Time
by StayGoldFren
Summary: Colby Ashford was supposed to be doing the book report for 'The Outsiders'. He's supposed to be listening to music as well as planning on how to ask out his crush, Ruby Diaz, who is, unfortunately, obsessed with "The Outsiders". However he was not supposed to travel to a fictional universe to change "The Outsiders" however way he wanted to...
1. Chapter 1

It was 1 pm on Saturday when I heard the doorbell ring. I was home alone, laying on my bed, listening to some MCR and thinking about how to start my "The Outsiders" book report.

Maybe with a quote from the book or maybe with a punch line. I had brainstormed at least two punch lines so far:

 _-Instead of Stay Gold Ponyboy, why can't it be Stay AU Ponyboy_

 _-"Stay cold Ponyboy, Stay cold," Johnny said as he shivered in the cold Canadian Weather_

I know, the punch lines are horrible because my thoughts were wandering off somewhere like Alice wandering off to the rabbit hole.

My thoughts were going to this girl I had a huge, huge, huge crush on (maybe not even a crush, I actually love this girl).

Ruby Diaz.

Black Hair that was always tied into a ponytail and moved slightly the way her body does whenever she walks by me to her next class. The way her t-shirt and adidas track pants fitted her body and showed her curves. The way her dark brown eyes shine during lunch whenever she reads the battered copy of 'The Outsiders'. Lips that make me want to brush it with my finger every single second I'm around her, and the butterflies I feel in my stomach when I'm around her.

Sometimes, I don't even think I have a crush on her. I think I'm in love with her.

My thoughts blew up as I heard the doorbell ring. Maybe after 5 or 6 times since I was too busy blasting 'Welcome to the black parade' by MCR (good song by the way).

I knew that it wasn't my mom or dad ringing the doorbell. Mom had just left for an emergency at the hospital and dad left this morning and won't come back till late at night.

I instantly wished it was Ruby, coming in with her black shiny hair, her sparkly dark brown eyes and her copy of "The Outsiders".

Along with her fangirling.

But, the odds of her coming are less than .1% as she had no idea where my house is.

And she has no idea who I am.

I got up from my bed, after hearing the doorbell ring the 3rd time, and trudged all the way downstairs. I opened the door to find a tall African American man with a orange suit and tie along with a happy face. He took out his sunglasses and his hand saying:

"Hello, the name is Bach,"

I shook his hand, and felt like my hand was going to break into million pieces, he had such a firm grasp.

"Hi, I'm Colby," I greeted. Without asking him to come inside, he went in my house, took off his black shoes and skipped all the way to the kitchen.

"Hey! You know that you can't come into people's houses like that!" I yelled, following him into the kitchen.

"Nice house, you got some food? You don't know how starving I am,"

"Can you answer my question? Why are you here?" I asked him.

"Get me some food, then we'll talk," he said as he settled himself at the head of the table.

" _Get me some food, then we'll talk,"_ I sarcastically said and went to the refrigerator to get out some leftover pizza from last night. I heated it over the oven and took it out giving a slice to him and taking one slice to myself.

"Okay, kid, so you want to know why I'm here?" he asked, as if just remembering what he came here to tell me.

I nodded, chewing on my pizza.

"Well, what if I told you that there is one way you can travel to any fictional universe?" he asked me.

I choked on my food, then swallowed before saying "What?"

He smirked. "That girl, you've been crushing on, what's her name?"

"Ru. .by,. . . . Ruby Diaz," I said hesitantly then turned my focus on the stranger sitting beside me. Who is this guy? How does he know about me and Ruby? I thought of her almost instantly, then out of the blue the craziest notion came to me. Could he know because Ruby herself told him? Could she have actually noticed me? No, I think to myself, that would be crazy.

Colby's babbling brings me out of daydream, and I realize he just asked me a question. "I didn't hear what you said sorry, can you say it again?"

"I asked you if she's still a huge fangirl over that book. And if you would like to impress her"

"Yeah" I reply to both of his questions.

"Well I got news for you, with this (he takes out his suitcase and opened it up, showing a small device that looks a lot like an IPod) , not only can you travel to "The Outsiders" universe but you can change everything in that book" he says, and he's voice becomes serious when he adds "you can also change what happens in her favourite book,"

I looked at him in bewilderment and started to laugh. "You're crazy, you know that, that looks like a fucking IPod," I inform him. but he looks dead serious and I get a really unpleasant feeling about all this.

He takes out the device and pressed the button revealing a blue screen saying "Where do you want to go?"

I looked at the device and sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I have this bad feeling that I'm going to do this, right?" I muttered.

But he just laughed and gave me the device. "Okay, what you got to do is press the button for a long time and say where you want to go. But before you do, you get to take two things,"

Without thinking, I say "I want to bring the copy of "The Outsiders" and money,"

He nodded and gave me the device.

"You're doing it for her," he said.

I nodded. Looking around my house one last time, I pressed the power button and after a few moments I say:

"1967; The Outsiders,"

As soon as I release the power button, I felt a wave of different colours hitting me, my last thoughts were:

"This better be worth it,"


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey,"

I opened my eyes to find myself not at home, but at a lot filled with dump. I sat up straight to see a kid (three years younger than me, probably), my age, with black jet hair that fell in bangs and a dark tanned face. He had many bruises and cuts shaping his face.

"Hey, um, where am I?"

He looked at me, his eyes showed nervousness before saying quietly.

"Tulsa, Oklahoma. Where you from?"

"Where am I from? Think, Think, Think," I thought to myself.

"Argentina," I accidentally said and clamped my mouth shut.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I meant to say, I'm from Kansas,"

He looked at me in a weird way then relaxed, his nervousness quickly disappeared and was replaced with calmness.

"You don't look like a Kansas boy," he says mischievously.

"Well shit happened. You don't look like a Oklahoma boy," I retort.

He smiled saying: "Well shit happened,". I had to grin at that. He took out his hand to help me up and I grabbed it, getting up from the broken car seat. I stretched my legs and arms, pretending not to feel the aching in my arms and knees.

"What's your name?" I asked him,

"Johnny Cade," he says and looks up at me. His height made me feel like a senior on his way to bully the first freshman that just walked into our high school. That's how small he was, and I instantly felt bad for thinking like this.

Johnny Cade, where did I hear this name? My brain must still be on conscious or something cause I'm just staring at him for what seems like infinity trying to think of how I know him.

And then it hits me this is Johnny - the one who got jumped.

Wow, so Bach was right, this did take me straight to the book. I need a minute to process this: it changes everything, now anyone can back in time and visit their favorite books. I wonder if it could work on the future too, like could i visit my favorite sci-fi books or movies? Could i change things for the better in other universes too? The possibilities are endless.

Now that I'm here though I have to focus on my mission: switching up "The outsiders". Change everything so Ruby can finally be happy that no one dies and I can date her and finally get to be the boy she always wanted,

"What's your name?" He asked me. We were walking away from the lot now, walking down the street.

"What's a 60's name?" I thought to myself. As soon as I did, a name finally appeared.

"Teddy Ashford,"

"Who named you that?" He asked quietly.

In reality, I always wanted to have a name called "Teddy," for some odd reason. Not "Colby Jack Ashford". That's sounded a lot like someone who was rich , and had no life other than swimming around in his money, which believe me, is far beyond my lifestyle but hey it's not like we can name ourselves.

"My mom. When I was born, my mom thought I reminded her of a teddy bear so yeah," I answered.

"Do you like your name?" he asked.

"Yeah, I love it," I take a quick glance at my clothes. Just a few minutes ago, I was wearing Red pajamas pants and no shirt but a vest. Now I was wearing a black leather jacket, grey t-shirt, blue jeans and white converse. My hair was apparently now heavily greased with hair oil and in some next 60's hair style, I think the 'Executive Contour' or something.

My dad's obsessed with hair styles and likes his job as a barber but sometimes brings in his role as a barber, and makes it his business that my hair is cared for. Personally I don't give a shit about it, but I guess some of the knowledge rubbed off , that's why I know a bit of hairstyles and sometimes take care of my hair..

We walked in comfortable silence after that.

"You gotta place to stay?" He asked me bringing me out of my daydream. Huh, Johnny was described as not much of a talker in the book, why was he talking a lot now. That's weird. Had that device sent me to that time before he got jumped?

"I'm looking," I replied and went back to looking around.

"Man, You got any cancer stick?"

So far in my jean pockets were the device, the copy of the book and the money. Not a Cancer Stick, whatever those are.

"No,"

He nodded and we walked again in silence. Looking around the neighbourhood I felt fear, I could hear screams, and objects being broken. I could also see parents slapping their children around and even a Dad carrying a suitcase and leaving behind his family.

I gulped and closed my eyes a little bit. Johnny must have noticed my fear because he said:

"This happens all the time. We get used to it," he answered.

I nodded not sure what else to say.

We finally reached to a house I recognize. The Curtis House. Ruby wanted to go there if she ever was in the book.

It was a house that looked similar to mine. We both had the cracks on our porch and a lot of weeds in our yard. We also had one floor like them and a rickety old fence. The differences however was that their house was white while ours was a beige colour. We also had a satellite hanging up on our roof whereas they don't.

We climbed up the stairs and went inside, the door was unlocked.

"Hey whoever came through the door!" a voice yelled as soon as Johnny opened it. I closed it quietly and walked in. The inside of the house was more nicer and cleaner than the outside. More cleaner than my house.

We walked into the kitchen to see a kid that was younger than us, cooking eggs and toast.

"Hey Johnnycake," The kid greeted him, he turned off the stove and placed the eggs and toast on the table.

He didn't notice me, which is fine by me, I guess.

"You're just in time for breakfast," he said, rubbing his hands on a towel.

Johnny smiled at him and I looked at him for a second. He looked at the kid as if he was his boyfriend. Were they in love or something?

The kid looked at him the same way a few seconds ago.

I know love when I see it and maybe I can change this, I can have them date. It could be one the things that I change to make it better. That seems like a good idea actually. Johnny and whoever this kid is.

"Who's this?" the kid asked, breaking away my thoughts.

"Teddy Ashford," Johnny replied. I smiled as a form of greeting. He smiled back.

"Teddy, this is Ponyboy," Johnny said.

Ponyboy Curtis. The main character of "The Outsiders," and the one with the overprotective oldest brother and the seemingly happy older brother. The one who watches movies, reads book and dreams of getting out of here.

Before coming here, I thought Ponyboy was a bit of a wimp for thinking of getting out of here. Now that I'm here, he doesn't seem like a bit of a wimp, just a shit scared kid.

"Hi," I greeted him again.

"Hi, you new to this area," he asked me. I nodded.

"How come you came here?"

"Okay, shit, think of a reason, think, think, think," I thought to myself.

"I ran away. Ran away from home. My dad didn't give a hang about me,"

""Nice 60's slang," Colby" I thought to myself. If I am going to be staying here for at least a little while then I better learn to fit in.

"And my mom is dead, so I left the country and came here," I said. Ponyboy looked at me and then back at Johnny before saying:

"I always wanted to go to the Country, seems better than here," he replies.

"We can switch places then, you can live in the country with wheat on your mouth and I can live here with a smoke on my mouth, "

Pony grinned at that. Johnny laughed quietly.

"Johnny, you ought to take him around town, he better feel welcome here," Pony said looking at Johnny.

That look felt so real, he was in love with him.

So much, it could hurt him.

"Ya, sure,"

Before we left the house, Pony yelled "Don't slam the door!"

I closed the door quietly behind me.


	3. Chapter 3

There's really nothing to see around this town, just the rumbles and drag races. Sometimes the movie theatre or the Ribbon. Tulsa in the east and west side is more of a Teen Paradise than a place to live," Johnny said, as we walked down the street to the restaurant called "Charlie Burgers".

"Drag races, you race with cars or horses?" I asked thinking about Jonny on a horseback riding like a cowboy. I snickered at that because picturing Jonny or any other greaser riding a horse for fun was just plain absurd. They would so out of place wearing their leather jackets, their converse and their overly greased hair.

"Depends, I race with cars, I'm mighty good, you should come and see for yourself," he said.

"I will, when is it tonight?" I asked him. The sound of cars speeding away as soon as the signal changed, rang in my ears. I've never been to a live car race, the only car race I watch is the Indy 500 and that is on TV.

"Yeah, you can meet the rest of the gang as well. You know I never really talked a lot with people. You seem like the person I want to talk to, other than Pony and Dally, I guess,"

"But why me? I just met you," I asked him. I've been wanting to ask him that since I met him but I didn't want to weird him out telling him he should talk less because it was written in a book. I also didn't want to explain the "coming from another universe" thing- i didn't want to be more of an outsider than I already am.

"I just have this feeling we're going to be friends, maybe best friends if you think about it," he replied.

I nodded not sure what else to say.

As soon as we walked into the restaurant, the first thing I can hear was the sound of loud laughter and 'Jailhouse Rock' by Elvis was playing. I can see so many teenagers (almost all of them were Greasers, the girls wearing the most skimpiest clothes make me feel a bit weird and scared even. The guys with the leather jackets and the threats spilling out of their mouth made me shook).

We found an empty table and sat there, Johnny looking at the menu while I was fiddling with my thumbs.

"You want anything?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I guess. What do they have?" I replied looking at something that was written on our table.

"Burgers, Milkshakes, Hot Dogs, Fries, Cokes, Barbeque Sand-"

"I'll take a Milkshake, don't care what kind though," I told him.

A waitress came to our table. She had blue eyes and blond hair that was in a bob cut. She was good looking but she wasn't as beautiful as Ruby.

"Hey, what can I get for you two cool heads?" She asked.

I'm so bothered by the 60's slang right now. I guess 21st century slang is a bit better than this.

"Just 2 Milkshakes,"

She nodded and went to get our food.

"Hey, you in love with Ponyboy or something?" I asked him.

His ears started to get red and he blushed a bit.

"As a brother yeah, but not in the flitty way,"

"Flitty?" I asked.

"You know, girlfriend boyfriend kind of way," he said, his face getting redder every minute.

Oh yeah, flitty meant gay back then. Gay back then meant happy. I think.

Before I could say anything, the waitress bought our milkshakes. It wasn't bad but it didn't taste that great either.

I paid for the milkshakes (it only costed a $1) and we left the restaurant heading towards the place where the drag races will be.

"Drag races are fun if you think about it. Sodapop, Pony's older brother-"

"Loved horses and always used them to win drag races, I know," I thought.

"Yeah, well he uses horses for drag races. So does Dally, another one of our gang. Two-Bit comes here for the beer, Ponyboy and Darry just watch," Johnny continued.

I nodded. We finally reached the Slash J (that must be the place where they do the drag races) and not only do I see Greasers but Socs (guys with sweaters Grandpa would wear and good-looking girls looking at Johnny and I in disgust and hatred. Looks could kill but this one hurts the most).

"The people who looked like they came out of a movie are Socs. West side rich kids and jet packs. They hate us, the Greasers, for some reason. We just don't know why," Johnny replied. More Socs girls gave me some dirty looks and whispered about me when I past by them and some of the Socs guys were "accidently" bumping into me.

They act like immature children, I swear to god.

We sat down on the bleachers far away from the Socs and looked at the first drag race that was about to begin. Most of the competitors were girls, Socs Girls. All of them looked okay except for one of them.

She was driving a blue Chevrolet Corvette L88 and when she got out I gasped quietly.

The girl with the Blue Chevrolet Corvette L88 looked exactly like Ruby Diaz.

She has the same black shiny hair as her, big dark mesmerizing brown eyes and the long eyelashes just like her.

The only difference was that she was wearing a lot of makeup, the red lipstick looks really good on her.

She looked beautiful. Just like Ruby.

She looked like a Greek goddess come down to earth, just like Ruby. I felt time stood still, the cheers stopped, everyone was frozen except her.

I got up from my seat and walked slowly, down the bleacher stairs and walked into the race. She was leaning against her car and said to me "Hey,".

I smiled and cupped her face with one of my hands, my hand touching her black shiny hair. I looked deeply into her eyes, mesmerized and felt my brain losing control just by the sight of her. She looked back and we move closer, leaning before...

The sound of a gun blew up my daydream and the 1st drag race has begun.

Instantly, I let out a low whistle. Johnny must have heard because he started to laugh.

"Some of these girls caught your eye?" He asked me.

I nodded. Not some, just one.


	4. Chapter 4

The look-like of Ruby won the 1st race. She let out a smile and I felt myself fly in the air because of how beautiful her smile was.

Johnny and I got up from our seats and we walked down the stairs to meet up the gang who were saving seats for us in the lower part of the bleachers. When we finally reached them, I instantly saw Ponyboy sitting with a man who looked a little bit like him minus the eye colour and the muscular build he endured.

"Hey Johnny, who's the stray you picked up?" another teenager who had his hair in complicated swirls asked. He looked a lot like Tom Cruise but he was taller and more lean than him along with the messed up teeth. The one sitting beside him was a real babe-magnet, he looked so much like Ponyboy but he had better hair than him and wasn't slouching as much as him. Then there were two guys, one with the long red sideburns and fresh cut on his red hair and the other one with almost whitish blond hair and icy blue

eyes. He didn't look as good looking as the other but he looked better than most of the jocks at my school.

"Teddy," Johnny answered in a quiet voice. I gave a small wave to him. He nodded. The Babe-Magnet smiled at me as well as the guy with red hair.

"Sodapop," of course the babe-magnet was him. Ponyboy described him like that in the book. The red hair must be Two-Bit, the one with the muscular build must be Darry and the blonde must be Dally.

"Two-Bit," the red haired replied.

"Darrel but call me Darry," the muscular build said, his eyes on the drag race.

"Dally," the blonde grunted.

See, I was right.

"What's your name?" Steve asked me.

"Co-Teddy Ashford," I replied.

"What type of pansy name is that?" Dally scoffed. I casted my eyes downward feeling a bit hurt that my "name" was more fitting for wimp.

"Cut it out Dal," Sodapop defended me. I smiled at that statement.

All eight of us ended up sitting together, the five of them were pretty loud not really giving two-shits if they were going to get kicked out (you thought that Darry would be the maturest out of all . Johnny and Ponyboy were talking quietly with each other.

I was watching the looks they gave each other, the "accidently" brushing, the "flirting" and the touching they were doing. And instantly, I knew my guess of them being in love was true, you can just tell that Johnny was in love with him, period. Everyone would have to be blind to not see the love that radiated of them, but of course nobody seemed to notice.

But I know love when I see it and it's no secret that Ponyboy felt the same.

I had to change things so they can end up together. But the question is how would I be able to do that?

Change Johnny's demeanour.

Make Johnny admit.

Or just leave it.

The first one can do, then I'll think of something.

"I'm going to get a Coke, you want anything," I asked them. Two-Bit flipped me a quarter. "Get Pony a Pepsi, the kid's gotta need some energy,"

I nodded and went down the bleachers stairs into the concession stand. Their stood behind me in line was the girl who looked a lot like Ruby.

She was waiting in line, fiddling with dollar bill. Suddenly, a greaser, who had his hair slicked back was looking at her lustfully. He walked up to her saying:

"Wow baby, you drive good, think you can do the same to me, drive me like that blue fancy car of yours,"

Her face paled.

"Leave me alone, please," she said quietly.

She might be Ruby because that's how she talks like every time all the girls and guys in our grade started making fun of her.

" _Hey, look it's the weird bitch. And look at this, she's finally reading something other than that stupid pussy ass book! You're still a weird bitch no matter what you read, you know that?"_

" _Leave me alone, please,"_

"Come on, let's ditch this place, your ears are getting red baby," the greaser said, touching her, she tried to push away from him but was struggling.

"If I can't stand up to Ruby's bullying then let me try to stand up for her.", I thought. I felt like standing up for her was the least I could do (after all like the jackass I was, I never tried to help Ruby - I just stood there like a bystander and she suffered through it alone). Finally I said something.

"Leave her alone...man," I said.

The greaser stopped.

"What did you say?" he snarled.

What did Johnny say when Dally was bothering Cherry? Think, Think, Think, oh yeah…

"Leave her alone, man," I repeated her words. The greaser glared at me, let her go and I stiffened, waiting for the punch. He didn't give me one and just said:

"You're lucky you're a grease, kid," and with that turned around.

He left hastily. The line continued forward. Finally she said something:

"Thank you," when she spoke it felt like music to my ears.

"Oh, your-"

"But, I could have called my brother to help me out, could have shut the greaser up for my sake,"

"Sorry, about that," I apologized sheepishly.

She looked at me and smiled a bit. We waited in comfortable silence after that.

"You're good at drag races," I said suddenly.

She turned around and looked at me, and I felt myself blush at the sight of her.

"Thanks, never seen you around before,"

"I just came to Tulsa today, I used to live in Rho- I mean Kansas,"

"My name is Amelia. Amelia Pons. What's your name?"

"Teddy. Teddy Ashford,"

"Weird, I was expecting a cool name from a Greaser,"

"Weird, I was expecting a pretty face like yours to have a beautiful name. And I was right."

She blushed at that statement (my flirting is so damn good). I finally got the Coke and Pepsi as she got the popcorn. We walked all the way back to the bleacher. Before we went to our own bleachers, she said:

"I hope I see you at school. I don't want to miss a handsome face like yours,"

And I blushed at that statement.

When the drag races were done (Johnny was right when he said he was very good at Drag Races, he won first place). The gang and I went back to the Curtis House, all of them were staying for the night. I was about to share a room with Ponyboy but gave the offer to Johnny (this better work) who was now blushing as soon as he entered the room.

The gang fell asleep in minutes. I was the only one awake, thinking about Amelia when I realized I could finally check if any changes occurred. I got the book out of the pockets of my jeans and opened the book. The familiar sentence of Ponyboy walking home after watching a movie was long gone and was replaced with this:

 _When I stepped in, onto the Bright lights of the Slash J, I had only one thing on my mind "Johnny Cade,"_


	5. Chapter 5

Reading the new version of "The Outsiders" was tiring. Especially if it was during the night. There has been a few changes such as "Teddy Ashford" being apart of the group, and in the church Johnny and Ponyboy confess their love for each other. Nothing changes after that, not the burning church or the deaths of Johnny and Dally.

It was a Sunday Afternoon, when I woke up to see Johnny and Ponyboy watching "Star Trek: Original Stories" on the old television. I seen the movie version of "Star Trek," before at my world and heard that the TV series was way better than the movies.

They were right.

I got up from the makeshift bed (which was the carpet along with a blanket and a pillow) and walked straight into the washroom, looking at my dark brown hair which was now looks like a rat-nest, my blue eyes which was now covered in bags and the clothes I was wearing. The uncomfortable t-shirt and jeans.

I miss wearing Plaid Pajamas and drinking Hot Chocolate while binge-watching "Teen Wolf" or "Spongebob Squarepants," I miss mom and dad, who are always pestering me on bringing up my grades in Science, but still sometimes make fun of my science teacher who doesn't teach properly. I miss Ruby, my English Teacher and even my friends at home, especially my neighbour who hates my guts for some odd reason.

But really, all these stuff are what make up my home,my world and without them (even the little annoying things) I feel oddly alone, even though I have the in all, I miss home.

I can't feel homesick yet though.I have to put it all behind me for now and focus on the task at hand. I have to change the outcomes of the book, if it's not for me, then it's for Ruby.

Thinking about Home reminds me of how long this fraud is going to work out. How long do I have to stay here before Mom and Dad freak out? How long will that 'excuse' Bach made up keep up? A week?

I washed my face and promised myself to buy a new toothbrush and some clothes because a grey t-shirt and jeans is not going to be comfortable for me to wear all the time.

As soon as I was done using the washroom, I got out and stood there watching the couple sitting in the living giving long stares at Ponyboy whenever he wasn't looking, I smiled at them and decided what we were going to do today.

"Boys, we are going shopping," I said to them excitedly.

The mall or "shopping centre" (as they called it) was like going into Grandpa's favourite store.

The clothes weren't all stylish and their wasn't any nice Jordan's or Adidas shoes, their isn't an Hot Topic, Urban Behaviour, American Eagle, and other name brands.

The only one I can see was Converse. They look nothing like the Converse I seen in my world. The logo is different and so is the shoelaces, more longer and more capable of letting you trip and fall. Looking at the shoes, they didn't cost much, just $7.99 (which must have been expensive as hell right now). I only had $50.00, with me but I bet on my grandma that I can buy loads of t-shirts and jeans, since apparently in the 60's everything that was expensive in the 21st century is now cheap as fuck.

I'll keep the leather jacket though, I like how it looks on me.

I look at Johnny and then at Ponyboy before asking if there was a store that had the most cheapest shirts and jeans on sale.

"I really don't know, Darry does most of my shopping," Ponyboy replied, looking at the window aisle of a store.

"Well, there is this one store I know…" Johnny said, giving me a small smile.

The store that Johnny was talking about had the most cringiest clothes in the world. Then again, this is the 60's, most clothes look like something grandpa would wear during parties or special occasions.

In the end, all I bought was a 5 pair of jeans and 5 pair of t-shirts (I could survive wearing those, if I continue washing them). The total cost was $20. In my world, $20 meant that you can only buy a shirt, or even just pants.

I also ended up buying Black High Top Converse to which Johnny asked:

"Glory, how can you afford these?" he looked down at them and then up back at me. He is probably wondering where I got all this money from, he must think I stole it or something.

I shrugged, holding the plastic bag securely on my hand.

"You ought to be lying if you're a greaser, with that much money, you could be a soc or something," says Johnny.

Ponyboy laughed. If the Socs were in my world, they wouldn't be that rich, probably Middle-Class, the money that they have in their banks right now can't afford all the pricey and rich things in my world.

Or they could still be Socs, I suppose.

"Yeah, a Soc," I responded, not really paying attention. We were now walking out of the store when we saw Two-Bit and Steve, who seemed like they were in a heated discussion.

"Hey Steve, look, here comes the Rag-Heads, you need to work on your hair," he said to me as soon as he saw me.

"Hey, my hair isn't all that bad," I retorted back. "It may look like a mop but it's my hair and I'm okay with it,"

"With a bit of Grease, you will look a bit more like us, not like those Gorillas," Two-Bit chuckled. I rolled my eyes a bit, Gorillas, such a great comeback.

"Pony you still coming over to the DX, we might need a few help for that Circus Wagon," Steve asks.

"Weird? Didn't Pony say in the book that he hates Steve?" I thought to myself or have I been reading wrong or something.

"Sure, I guess, are we leaving now?" Pony asked. Steve nodded, also letting out a 'Mhm'.

Pony sighed and looked at Johnny, he looked a bit mad that he has to leave soon and can't stay with Johnny.

He was so in love with him. It broke my heart to see them parted.

"See you clowns later," Two-Bit yelled, then chuckled at his own joke. I flipped him off but he continued laughing, smoking another joint as soon as he butted out his first cigarette.

Johnny didn't seem to care if he was called a clown, he probably knew he was kidding around.

As soon as Two-Bit left, Johnny sighed, kicking a few pebbles lying around near his path. "What you want to do, man?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know, you wanna catch a movie or something?" I asked.

"Usually me and Pony head to the library, ya know. I can't read and all but I just like the peace and quiet of it," he answered still staring at the ground.

"No more Peace and Quiet!" I thought to myself. "If we need to change his behaviour than we have to hit a place with more kids,"

"What's the loudest place you've ever been too?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "None, I hate loud,"

"Well, I like it, beats it better than the country," I said to him already thinking of how much his personality would change if he went to loud places - like parties or something.

He chuckled. "Golly, I never met someone like you. Your one of a kind,"

"True," I replied. If someone ever told me that in front of my face at my school (which happens a lot), I wouldn't take it as a compliment but I let it slide because I know he's a nice guy and would never mean it as anything bad. Apparently, you don't get bullied if you like what most people like. If you don't, you're 'one of a kind'. Also known As plain weird.

"We should visit Dally, ya know," he suggested.

As much as I hated Dallas Winston, I knew in order to save this book, we have to go. Maybe Johnny can be more open and confident in himself at wherever the hell Dally is going too (probably Buck's or another Pool Bar).

Well, at first, I liked Dallas, as my favourite book character, I had no idea why though. He probably represented what I wanted to be in my school. Someone who isn't afraid and has no feeling to hide whenever someone flips them off or whenever someone makes fun of them.

He still is my favourite character, even though he just made fun of my 'name'.

We tooked the bus, and sat towards the back, not wanting to disturb any of the Socs who were in the front, whistling a high-note every time a good-looking girl passed by them. It wasn't even all the Socs who were acting raunchy, just the guy with the slicked back hair, Stocky Build and was wearing a Madras Flannel along with ugly looking pants. The guy was good-looking, but Sodapop was the real babe-magnet.

Him and his two friends were acting raunchy, kind of like most of the guys at my school. When we passed by them, they stopped the wolf-whistles, and instead started giving us the look that just meant 'Look guys, we got some fresh Greasers'.

I ended up getting tripped onto the floor because of them.

Johnny rushed to my aid and helped me up, I also felt another pair of arms helping me up as well.

"Johnny, I'm fine, I just fell down, nothing to worry about," I told him.

Johnny didn't listen. Looking at the other person who helped me up, I looked over him. He looked more of a middle class, Blonde Hair and Blue Eyes, Tall and Slender, and a slight build. He looked at the guy who tripped me and gave him a glare.

The Soc didn't look nervous though, more cocky, thinking he can beat us up with just a look.

"Hey man, I believe you owe this Greaseball an apology for tripping him, _accidently of course_. I mean, no one knows that you didn't mean to do this on purpose, right, Danny,"

The Soc who tripped me must be named Danny because he smiled a grim smile showing his sickeningly perfect white teeth and said "So what if I tripped the Greaser? Don't have a cow about it,"

"Listen, it's us three against you Gorillas, you wanna take it outside, we can take this outside!" the blonde yelled, taking out a switchblade and flicking it around, the gleam shining as he did. He placed the switchblade against his neck, and I felt my stomach flip backwards.

"I want to see how tough you shitheads think you are! Let's go! Fight me right now!"

"You can both calm yourselves down, Otherwise, I gotta tell you boys to leave the bus," the bus driver yelled, making the blonde shut his mouth as well as Danny. Danny glared at us and I felt my hands starting to shake, sweat breaking out of my back.

This is the first time I ever felt scared for my life. I felt that the switchblade was going to be on my neck instead of his.

The blonde glared back and soon all three of us sat in the back, not wanting to cause any more disturbance.

"Man, if I had cut up that Monkey in pieces, the fuzz would've showed up and I would have to go back to that hellhole I just stayed in for a few months. My old man would probably not bail me out and get Tim to. Not looking forward to it," the blonde muttered, shaking his head slightly so the greased bangs could fall. Instead of falling in wisps, they fall in tufts.

"Nice to meet you too, Curly," Johnny greeted him, ignoring what he just muttered.

Curly smiled (Tim and Curly, oddly familiar names), he then looked at me before asking "Who's this? The one who almost got me sent to Fuzz again?" he asked Johnny with a look of amusement. He probably thought all this was funny from the way he was looking at us.

"Teddy. Teddy Ashford," I answered (and the pat on the back for not saying Colby).

" _Curly. Curly Shepard,"_ he mocked me and busted out laughing. I felt slightly hurt, but laughed along as well, thinking that I'm just changing the story and not establishing friendships with the characters.

"Where you from?" he asked.

"Rho-I mean Kansas," I replied, with all these questions everyone is asking, it seems more of like an interview than someone you're meeting for the first time.

"Oh lordy, a farmer's boy, huh? What do you do in the country anyway? Eat grass?" he retorted with laugher.

"What the city people do. Go to school, eat, take a shower, flip off the bastards who took my money a few weeks ago-" I snap back at him.

Johnny laughed out loud, and soon Curly joined too.

We ended up getting kicked out of the bus because of that.

I flipped him off as soon as he driven away.

"Man, your far out, you know that? You're the perfect greaser! I'll see y'all around if I don't end up getting caught by the fuzz for stealing some booze. I need it," he said, giving me a pat on the back and a small wave and was soon off.

Johnny chuckled and I sighed, feeling at least better about what I had accomplished today, with Johnny and Ponyboy, and for acting like a real greaser back then (even though we got kicked out - but I'm trying to look at the positive side).


	6. Chapter 6

We ended up walking to Buck's, and as soon as we got there, I just felt ready to pass out and go to bed.

But, of course, I had to change Johnny's behaviour.

We knocked on the door, waiting for somebody to open it. We waited and waited.

"Have you been to Buck's before?" I asked, wanting to start a conversation with him.

"Yeah, just to visit Dally. Only went upstairs though. Can't stand downstairs man. It's annoying as hell down there. _Hey sugar, you want some tequila?! Well, the only thing you should be wanting is me!_ Or _Hey baby, you want to turn me on like the way Buck turns on the stereo for Hank Williams?_ Lordy, the whole place is gross man. Do they have something like that in the country?" Johnny asked me.

I was too busy laughing to answer his question and soon he joined in. We laughed out loud for a few minutes before sighing.

"I don't know why you guys always asking about the country. It's the same thing as the city just more quieter and more boring," I answered, after wiping a tear from my eyes from laughing too much.

Johnny looked at me for a few minutes before casting his eyes downwards, his bangs falling as he did so.

"The country sounds better to live in. You may have came here not knowing a clue what we have to do to survive this town. Pony, Soda and Darry's parents died a few months ago, if they had lived out of the city, they would have survived, you know. And Darry would have get to go to college and not work hard too much at such a young age. Steve's old man doesn't give a hang about him, yet always bribes him with some Green so he could forget about him treating Steve like -Bit's dad left him at a young age, Dally's parents, I don't even know what they do to him that made him heartless and cold. My parents, man, they hate the shit out of me. I always sometimes wonder when they're going to love me back like I do to them. But it's just a dream that they will,"

"The reason why we talk about the country like it's such a big deal is because we're just wondering if you go through the same problems we go through in the city. Are you hated by the Socs or hated by the people who were suppose to love you?" Johnny looks away from me then, and stares at his hands. He's lost in thought so I let him continue.

"Is it much nicer in the country, where there is no problems that have to face at all? I don't know, man, I always wanted to live in the country to get away from the problems, the Socs and just everything in general," he looks at me then and sighs. I feel dreadful for all the greasers had to go through because when I think about they have all these problems and and burdens they have to carry with them.

Johnny looked up at me and sighed sheepishly, now realizing that I was here all the time listening to everything he said.

I think this was the first time he ever spoke like that. All loud and confident in himself. The rant made him seem powerful, not the kicked puppy that I read about in the book.

What changed?

"You know what? This is the second time I ever came open to someone. I don't even know you and yet I feel like you're the person I can trust beside the gang. I don't know. Just forget about the rant, please, for me man?" Johnny said, placing his hand on my back. I looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile to let him know that it was all good.

"I wish you were like this more often," I told him as soon as I saw Buck coming towards the door.

Johnny looked at me and gave me a crooked smirk. From the way he did it looked like he's never smirked before.

Buck Merril looked like a stereotypical cowboy who always wore those high wasted pants and big ass boots and always rode a Mustang horse to the Grocery Store just to pick up two big bottles of Whisky.

"What you boys want?" he asked. He was the first one in Tulsa to not acknowledged my new presence which is fine by me. I almost hated the attention they give to the new guy of Tulsa.

Almost.

"Is Dal here?" Johnny asked, the shakiness in his voice was visibly shown.

"Nope. Went out somewhere. You guys want to come in and wait?" he asked, smiling and showing his crooked teeth.

Ew...

"N-"

"Yeah sure, thanks man," I quickly said, not letting Johnny finish what he was saying.

We quickly went inside and Buck showed us the room Dally sometimes stayed in. We sat on the now cigarette burned bed. How Dally was comfortable sleeping here, I had no clue.

Taking out a packet of Kools Cigarettes, Johnny handed me one but I shook my head.

We should be downstairs partying instead of bumming around like goofs in a room with a cigarette burned bed. I sighed and stood up, making my way downstairs. I felt footsteps slapping loudly against the white tile floor and turned around, seeing Johnny trailing behind me.

"Wait up, man! Where you going? Thought you wanted to see Dal,"

I smiled, ruffling up his hair, his bangs falling, covering his eyes that shown nervousness, something I never seen before.

"We're going to wait for Dally. By partying,"

In a few hours after a party, I feel something weird inside the deepness of my stomach, 'The After Party Effect," I would like to call it. It's that weird feeling between the mixture of happiness and longing after a huge party. That's what I felt.

During those hours at the party, not only was Dallas pissed at us that we had to run out of here, but Johnny started to open up more and was acting a bit more like me, not quiet but not loud either.

Like he would talk for a long time about a topic but then stop after we finished discussing about it. I want to be able to tell him that if he continued like this, Ponyboy would fall in love with him.

But, I somehow manage to forget that this isn't 2017 where no matter who you are, you can fall in love with anyone as long as you don't hate them.

But, in this alternative outsiders world it's 1967. And the "love is love no matter who it is" thing isn't accepted freely.

In 1967 being gay meant that the people could do whatever they wanted to you. 'Correction' methods, arrest, murders, lynching, and the point where all the pain and suffering you endured because you were gay made you want to hurt yourself even more than what the people did to you was sickening. Just a few years prior, segregation was legal and whites were allowed to do whatever the hell they want to 'coloured' and get away with it.

The thoughts of this was sickening and I kept on swaying on my feet like a drunk because of it.

Johnny looked at me and placed a hand on my shoulder, something that I would usually brush away from everyone I knew but not him.

"You okay man?" he said and looked at me with concern.

I nodded not really in the mood to say what was in my mind a few moments ago.

We passed by a much worse neighbourhood than Ponyboy and Johnny's and I realized that there was more 'coloured' people there. They didn't give out glares and swears at us whenever we pass by them. Instead they gave out this 'fearful' vibe, like they were scared of us. It was like we're holding tear gases and baseballs bats, instead of switchblades and smoke packets.

Johnny looked over at me confused about what's why seemed troubled, but I pretended to ignore it.

"How come we're here?" Johnny asked me. I shrugged, trying to think of a reason why we came here in this neighbourhood the first place.

"Johnny, is this a quicker way to reach your neighbourhood?" I asked him.

"No? If we continue, we get to Pony's place in 20 minutes. By walk," Johnny replied, continued to walk, not minding at all the 'coloured' people who were now giving us a glare. I stopped trailing behind him and sat down on the curb, taking a few deep breaths. Johnny didn't seem to notice that I wasn't trailing behind him.

On my fourth breath, I suddenly heard a soccer ball rolling downwards across the road towards me. It landed the curb with a small thud. I looked up and saw four 'colored' boys, looking straight at me, they looked scared as if I was going to hurt them brutally just for playing soccer. I looked over at them and smiled, yelling "Is this your ball?".

At first they don't reply but silently shake their heads. I smiled at them, and kicked the ball sideways so one of the boys could catch it. I also saw Johnny running behind me, probably realizing I wasn't following him.

"Let's play ball," I yelled at Johnny and ignoring his puzzled look turned around. After a few more minutes Johnny joined us and we made teams of three.


	7. Chapter 7

Tonight should be the night I'm suppose to be sleeping my head off, dreaming of Amelia Pons/Ruby Diaz, walking down the wedding aisle with the v-neck wedding dress and I'm standing there with tears in my eyes ready to marry the love of my life.

Instead, I'm having temporary insomnia, something that only happens to me when life starts to get shittier.

Here I am, smoking off my first cigarette (and finally finding out what a fucking cancer stick; a fucking cigarette). The taste is bitter, like smoking off a pepper instead. I don't know why I started to smoke, probably to fit in or just to get the idea of my parents worrying their butts off because here I am, trying to save Johnny and Dally from dying, maybe even getting to date Amelia, or yet even Ruby...

I'm laying with the first chapter open, not having read the first sentence yet, but had a feeling it was the same sentence that was before " _When I stepped in, onto the Bright lights of the Slash J, I had only one thing on my mind "Johnny Cade,"._

Instead it started off with: " _Darry is going to kill me…"_

Since, I'm a slow reader, the whole book took me the whole night to read, until 5:30 am in morning. It is also know Monday, I get school, meaning I get to finally maybe see Amelia.

Anyway, there has been a few changes in the book so far like:

-I'm now a main character of the book, and apparently I get jumped by Danny and his stupid gang of premature gorillas

-Even though Johnny killed Bob-Fricking-Sheldon, Johnny doesn't run away with Ponyboy, instead he runs away with me

-Johnny still falls in love with Ponyboy, who is still the 'main' character of the book

-We still go to the church, and the rest goes along with the original story

-Only one difference in the end though, I end up leaving back to Kansas

"You have one week to change everything, otherwise, shit will go down," I thought to myself.

The first thing I come to school is a the majority of Socs hanging out in the front, smoking a cigarette, and laughing around with their buddies, pushing each other as if it's fun and games.

I also saw Danny's and his Socs but Johnny and I kept the fear of them underneath us.

 _He's not worth it,_ Johnny's eyes read.

I nodded, not really saying anything.

Two-Bit, Steve and Ponyboy we're all coming with us to school today, Two-Bit came to look for a blondie to _go all the way with_ (which I later found out means having _sex_ ), Steve came because:

"You see, when I woke up, I kind of realized I had a life to deal with. Life meaning school, so that's why I'm here,"

"That, is the most shittiest sentence I ever heard from you," I told him.

"Then you try, why did you decide to come to school, rag-head?"

" _I hope I see you at school. I don't want to miss a handsome face like yours,"_

" _Flitty?" I asked. "You know, girlfriend boyfriend kind of way,"_

"To change a story," I thought to myself, not answering his question at all.

It felt weird coming into a 1960's classroom.

Not really since I didn't go to class at all.

The hallway was like an all stereotypical highschool, not like the ones know.

We don't crave for football in my time, or in my highschool, we crave basketball.

Here, by looks, it's football.

No one was here by the time the bell rang, five minutes later and I was the only one in the hallways.

Posters of new clubs tryouts, pictures of graduates are on the school gray wall as I walk down the hallway. One Graduation Photo stood out to me apparently, the circular small frames filled with the pictures of the graduating class of 1965. It's probably because I saw a young man, probably around 18, who looked way too young, almost like a guy in a 1960's teen beach movie. He looked perfect, the guy that all the girls and maybe even guys swoon over. He had calm blue-green eyes, dark brown hair that was brushed neatly, by the looks of the pictures, there may have been no tangles and he was muscular, your normal average jock. His name, bolded out and written neatly with black jet ink, underneath his picture read ' _Darrel Curtis'._ I gasped a bit and was taken aback.

Darry in this picture looked so happy, young and carefree. Now, he looked dead, solemn and 'busy'.

I can see why he changed. In the original story, Darry's, Sodapop's and Ponyboy's parents died in an car accident and he had no choice but to drop out of college and take care of his brothers.

'No choice' seemed like a poor choice of word I was using to describe his situation.

While studying the picture, I felt someone cover my eyes, unable to study the photo for a bit longer. The voice whispered softly in my ear " _Guess who?"_

The whisper sounded like music, exactly like Amelia.

Knowing that it's her, I say "Ru-Amelia!"

Oh god, I almost said Ruby's name.

She let go of both of her hands and I turned around seeing her in a teal seville floral dress with black mary janes and was carrying a bright red satchel.

"Hey, Teddy!"

At first, I got confused. I looked at the end of the hallway until realizing that my name from here on in this world is 'Teddy', not 'Colby'.

Stupid me.

"Oh hey!" I said. Amelia looked confused but then smiled.

"What you out here for?" I asked, deciding to continue walking down the hallway.

"I don't know. I'm suppose to be at Art Class, but I skipped. Not really wanting to ruin this dress," she said, and twirled just for me to see the teal colour of a seville floral dress. Amelia looked beautiful just twirling and I just wanted to maybe touch her hair and pull her closer to me. Kiss those soft lips.

I sighed softly and smiled a bit. She looked over at me and smiled back, showing those beautiful teeth.

During the first 2 bells/classes, Amelia and I were in the hallway just talking about...well stuff.

We didn't get caught for skipping two of our classes.

"I was going to watch _The Graduate_ after school but then decided you're here, why not watch it right now," she said to me, as she was sipping on the can of _Coca Cola._

I shrugged, not having any clue what the movie _The Graduate_ was about, and sighed a bit.

"Do you know I'm a Greaser?" I asked suddenly. I was so tired and wanted to go home, yet haven't even made a little change other than Johnny being a bit talkative when we were at Buck's party.

"I do," Amelia answered confused, not sure where I was going.

"Do you mind?" I asked.

"Our classes issue is a thin translucent light," is all she said, before sipping on her coke and excitedly telling me that she wanted to see an Anthony Perkins film after _The Graduate._

By the time Amelia was done talking about half of these actors I never heard of before (except for Paul Newman and James Dean), I was laying my head on her lap as we sat on the school's back field where the basketball court was. She looked at me a little funny and without thinking,kissed my forehead. I instantly started to blush, not knowing if I should kiss back.

We may have only met for three days but I kinda like her, love her like Ruby.

"What was that for?" I breathed out, after a long silence.

"Did I ever tell you that you remind me of Frankie Avalon?" Amelia whispered in my ears.

Without thinking, I kissed her neck.

"I don't know, is it cause I'm good-looking or…?"

Amelia smiled and instead of wiping her neck, like I expected her too, she kissed my nose. It wasn't a kiss on the mouth, it wasn't quick, but it felt great.

"Both, I don't know Teddy, I just never fell in love for such short time. It could be because you're sweet, caring, and the time you played soccer with the coloured boys, I just know that you're one of a kind,"

"Wait, how did you know that I was playing soccer with them?" I asked her.

I got up from her lap and stood up, offering my hand to help her up. She smiled and took it, I felt myself blissfully aware how I was right now, the luckiest guy on earth.

"I was walking home with my brother when I saw you," she said.

We walked back into the school, not really hand in hand, we were kind of bumping into each other, 'accidently' of course.

"You want to go out with me?" I asked her. These 7 words can change a life one way or another. I should use these words for the girl I crushed on for three years, not the girl I crushed on for 3 days.

She pushed her shiny black hair back and nodded, her eyes casted downwards but her smile was so big.

"Why not? But maybe somewhere, where they aren't many people, I know I seem scared and all but I want our social classes issue to be a thin translucent light, not a bright lightbulb in a dark room. You get it?" she said still looking down at the ground.

"It's a date then" I asked her but it was more like an awkward statement. We both laughed at that and then continued to walk in comfortable silence for a few minutes. It looked like something was troubling her but I didn't want to push her.

 _"I know," she said quietly after a while,"but we'd better go with them. Ponyboy... I mean... if I see you in the hall at school or someplace and don't say hi, well, it's not personal or anything, but..."_

 _"I know," I said finishing her sentence._

 _"We couldn't let our parents see us with you all. You're a nice boy and everything..."_

 _"It's okay," I said, wishing I was dead and buried somewhere._

"You shouldn't be afraid," is all I could muster up.

"Why is that?"

"Is it because of your parents?"

Amelia's beautiful smile quickly wiped out of her face, she wasn't angry but kind of shocked and looked a bit...malcontented.

"I got a dad who was born poor, raised poor but in the end got rich. Didn't want to have any relations to the past. It didn't hurt him to not think of the poor...it killed him,"

I casted my eyes downwards. When she was about to leave, I held her hand, feeling some type of electricity running through my veins.

"Do you want to go to Oklahoma City with me?"

Silence, small breaths, and then a quiet voice.

"Sure, you there, makes Oklahoma City look even better on the map,"

That point, Amelia was suppose to let go of her hand, instead she didn't, we held hands like that as I idly drew circles on her palm. It felt nice to just stand there holding Amelia's hand - it felt warm and alive.


	8. Chapter 8

Apparently, taking Johnny to one Buck's party wasn't enough.

You needed to take him to 10 or 100 more of them before he can break his shell.

On the 5th party, Curly Shepard, his older brother Tim and Two-Bit decided to come with us. For no reason except to 'hunt action' and 'have a gas'.

"When you mean by have a gas? Are you going to fill up your car with gas?" I asked stupidly.

"Car?!" Two-Bit exclaimed, and then laughed out loud, a deep laugh that could emerge from your stomach.

"What's so funny?"

"No one says car here, country boy! The only ones that do are the geezers and our old man's!" Tim yelled, and then gave me a punch on the arm. He joined Two-Bit for the laughing.

Johnny, instead of staying silent, then added "Country Boy? Atleast Country Boy's got a dick, then some of us Bare Asses,"

All four of us were shocked for a few seconds and then bursted out a huge laugh, one that might have woke up the neighbours, because the dark house was now filled with a light.

"A big dick in that matter," Curly replied and clapped a hand on my back.

I didn't care about that though. All I cared is that how Johnny finally decided to try breaking his shell.

Out of all the greasers I liked so far, were Johnny, Curly and Steve. I liked Ponyboy sure but he doesn't talk to me the whole time I was at his house, he fears that I'm taking his 'friend' away (said so in the book). Sodapop and I don't talk as much as well as Darry. Two-Bit and Dally were fun guys to hang around with but not my type, reminded me a lot of boys in my school back in my time, or world. Tim and I just met recently so I don't know what to say to him so far.

Meanwhile, Steve always talks to me about things that seemingly he knows that I liked such as now James Dean and Audrey Hepburn. Because of Amelia, I now am watching films of these great people. But he always keeps on asking me questions, as if he doesn't think I'm from the 'country' at all.

Curly Shepard is like a great friend to have. Amelia left me to go to Math and as soon as she left, Curly came and took me around town. We were joking around, having a great time and he's not that seemingly a jerk except to the Socs.

Johnny Cade, my now, I guess you can say, best friend, we have been inseparable ever since playing with the 'coloured' kids and it's making Ponyboy jealous. Very jealous.

We would stick to each other like glue.

"Hey, Teddy, do you want a cancer stick?" Curly asked me, he was holding out a pack of 'Marlboro' cigarettes. I took one, now for some reason wanting to taste smoked off pepper for some reason. He lit up my cigarette and did the same with his. He offered Johnny one but he shooked his head, he seemed still deep in thought.

I sighed and ran my hands in my hair. It's filled with now tangles and wisp. I should start brushing my hair soon, it does not suit my style.

We ended up walking in silence after that, with the few occasional jokes from Two-Bit and the words of Tim Shepard.

Curly was silent too, which was weirdly odd, because he usually fills the night with talks, and now with silence. I looked at him and he looked back mouthing a "Fuck you want?" and I slightly turned away, blowing off my smoke before putting out.

We reached Buck's in 2 minutes and soon as we walked in Two-Bit already was holding a beer and Tim already got his eyes on a black curly haired girl. Curly, Johnny and I went to the bar where we gave the bartendress each a dollar if she could get us three cokes and a cigarette packet.

All three of us ended up talking about the most randomest things we can ever talk about such as Cowboys, Marlon Brando (I don't know him other than the fact that he's dad's favourite actor, all time, number 1 favourite actor) and even the food Poutine for some reason.

"I never tried out poutine…" Curly admitted as he took a long swig of his coke. He was suppose to buy beer tonight but never got it due to the price. I offered to pay him but he shooked his head ("I'm might steal some tomorrow, ya know what I mean?).

"I did. My dad forced me to come with him to Quebec to go fishing down the river. It tastes good. Like good, good, good,"

Correction: My parents and I went on a trip to Quebec for summer vacation. Not only did I got to take a picture with Celine Dion but I got to eat Poutine. Loads of Poutine.

"Can you get me some poutine one day?" Johnny asked me quietly, making sure Curly didn't hear.

I nodded. "Yeah, why not?"

After a few moments at the party, it seemed like Johnny finally broke out of his shell. It also looked like that shell wasn't going to reform anytime soon. Curly and Tim left early, apparently their sister broke up with her "boy-toy".

"I don't get it. How could Two-Bit drink this piss in so much minutes?" Johnny asked me.

Two-Bit was on his fifth beer and was having a beer chugging contest with another greaser. The winner gets to sleep with the hot blonde that was beside the opponent greaser in front.

"Probably because he's a pissy person. BA DUM TSS!" I yelled, then improved fake drums.

Johnny laughed and so did I. Both of laughed like we had no care in the world.

After a few minutes, when I finally gave out a long sigh, Johnny looked at me with troubled eyes. His forehead creased and he swiped away the imaginary sweat forming on his forehead.

"What up?"

"...Nothing...What makes you think something happened?"

"You look worried...scared,"

"I'm not. I'm perfectly fine. See…" he forced out a smile as soon as he finished the sentence.

I shooked my head, taking my last sip of my coke.

"Wanna ditch and have a gas?"

"A gas? You don't even have a car,"

Johnny laughed, the worries in his eyes disappeared a bit.

"No dumb one, let's have fun,"

The mischievous gleam in my eyes must have been the answer he was waiting for.

We walked around the corner of Ian St, and Country Junction. Johnny told me that by far, this was the safest place in Tulsa that is apart of Greaser's territory.

"Why's that?" I asked him.

He shrugged. I didn't question any further.

We finally got to the place where he was wanting to go.

An pizza store.

"How come you wanted to go to a pizza store?" I asked him.

"For some reason, the guy who owns the pizzeria always leaves the back door open. I figured this was a safe place we could hang out. He also always leaves a couple of change and pizza in the fridge,"

"Does anyone know this?"

"Nope, just me and now, you," Johnny said. We walked towards the back and opened the door, closing it softly behind us. I found a booth where we both can sit and he bought out the warm pepperoni pizza from the oven all while holding 5 dollars.

"You going to tell Ponyboy about this?"

"...I don't know,"

That's when I got confused but kind of hopeful at the same time.

I decided to question it further.

"Why not? I think it's a great place,"

"I know it is. But…"

"Ponyboy's mad at me...Isn't he?" I asked.

Johnny looked up from his lap. By now we were both seated and ate only half of our first slice.

"No, no, he's not mad at you, he's-"

"He's mad at me because I'm hanging out with you more often," I added.

"...I don't think he's mad. More like jealous,"

Silence followed. We decided to continue eating but more questions came in my mind as I ate my last slice.

"I know why," I muttered, after chewing down my slice.

Johnny looked up. For once he looked scared and for once I felt sorry for a book character. I promised myself I wasn't here to form relationships, just to solve problems. But, sometimes you gotta break promises, especially if they are to save a inseparable friend.

"He loves you. You love him. Don't give me that I'm-not-flitty bullshit because you are. You're denying it because you're scared,"

Johnny sighed and his lips trembled a bit.

"Do you want to know why my parents hit me so much?" he asked quietly. Tears were starting to stream down his face.

I didn't say anything. I was too scared to talk about something that was never brought up.

"Because I came out to them as a flit. They're beating the flit out of me, they're…" he doesn't continue, instead he sobs a bit and then loudly.

I felt my eyes water too. I turned away and furiously wiped them, making sure Johnny doesn't see me cry because for one thing, I hate crying. It's not because it makes you feel weak because it makes you feel as if you can't solve a thing in this fucked up world.

"Hey, Johnny. You're great, you know that. You're the best, you know that," I said, got up and sat beside him.

"I am?"

"Golly, you're the greatest, the whole world would agree! Hell, even Ponyboy would fall heads over heals in love with you cause you so damn great!" I yelled.

Johnny was smiling, the tears have now stopped and he was gawking at me.

"Guess who's the greatest!"

"I'm the greatest!"

"You're the greatest bud!" I yelled. I got on top of a table and yelled "You're the greatest!". The big colourful refrigerator (later turns out to be a jukebox) was turned on and 'Jailhouse Rock' started to play.

" _Let's rock, everybody, let's rock. Everybody in the whole cell block...Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock,"_ I lip-synced the words and tried to do a dance somehow related to Elvis, but ended up falling off the table.

Johnny laughed and we soon just did some next random dance moves for the next hour playing some good old tunes.

I felt good as soon as we were done, no tears showing up my eyes and so was Johnny.

We sat on the floor, turning off the jukebox and just kept on panting, smiling at each other.

"Your funky, you know that?"

"My dance moves were that good?" I asked back. He laughed and gave me a mild punch on the arm.

"No, you doofus, your cool. You're a cool guy," Johnny said as a smile broke across his face. Even though we had been laughing our heads off and having the greatest time of our life, I realized that for the first time in a long time Jonny was actually, actually smiling - he was happy and carefree for the first time in a long time.

A few moments of quietness and stillness later, I say something that could one way benefit this whole 'change the story' thing.

"I know how I can get Ponyboy to fall in love with you," I say staring at the ceiling. I think I might have told him too much, but as I look at Johnny I see new part of that he never showed. Beneath all the worrying and anxiety when I look at Johnny I see his unwavering determination and I can tell that he made up his mind.

Seeing how determined Johnny is, encourages me help make their relationship a possibility in a world that against it.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, what your parents like?"

I looked up from the Marlon Cigarette packet and looked in front of Steve and Sodapop. Us three decided to get to know each other a lot better. Since Sodapop and I barely talk, Steve wanted to make sure I've become friends with him as well. I'm all up for becoming friends with the gang, if that is, they're all up for it as well.

"My mom is those mom's you see on the TV. She's sweet, caring and just you know, overly protective. She made me once ride on this horse named Riley and as soon as I climbed on top of her, she started to get out of control, I fall and ended up breaking my hand. She thinks because of her, I got hurt because of the horse. She's wrong though,"

Steve smiled and chuckled a bit, but something felt oddly wrong in that chuckle of his. Like it seemed fake or that he knows what's going on.

"Oh wow. I love horses. I wish to ride on one,"

"If I ever go back to Kansas, I'll show you Riley," I added. Surprisingly, I had no idea how I could make up all these stories to fulfill the life of Teddy Ashford. This character I made up on the top of my head on Saturday, is now apparently apart of me. Who knew what it felt like playing something you're not?

"How about your old man?"

"My grandpa? Oh, he's dead,"

"No Bare Ass, I mean your dad. Did you never heard of these words before?" Steve asked.

"Shit! I think he's onto me. Make up something," I thought.

"No, we don't talk like old men in the country," I muttered.

"This should be useful," I thought and silently congratulated me.

"Well, tell us about your dad then," Sodapop asked.

"Well, he was...great. He was the best dad I could ever ask for. Until my mom died a couple of months ago, he changed. He just plain on ignored me," I answered, taking a sip.

"Is that why you came to Tulsa?" Sodapop asked, his tone was filled with worry. I knew that his parents loved him until their death a few months ago. Maybe he was trying to understand where I was coming from. Maybe evenHe was trying to help me…

"Yeah. That … was P part of it," I mumbled.

"Your dad… he's not white is he? He's coloured?" Steve asked.

I blanked out for a second. Wait, how do they know? In reality, I am actually a interracial child. My dad was a Jamaican Canadian and my mom was white. They both met at Harvard University. It was a love story after that.

"...Yeah, how could you tell?" I asked him,bewildered.

"My mom's a coloured, my dad was white. Soon as the civil rights thing blowed over, they got married. But mom left him because of the torture she got just for being with a white man," he said when he saw the confusion written on my face. I felt, a little better after that even though he's not really answering my question.

"I just could tell, I don't know how though. It's easy," Steve continued and took another long drag on his Marlon Cigarette.

A few moments later, after finishing our food, Soda and I started to hit off very well, which seems to satisfy Steve enough. Soda and I started to talk about the most randomest things. Our last topic was a heated discussion of what soda brand was the best Coca Cola or Sprite.

"You must believe when I tell you that Coke is that one drink that calms your nerves down. But it also makes you look cool in front of the other girls," and finishing the sentence with a wink.

"But think about it, a Sprite can make you cooler, I mean cooler if you just even take a sip. You would feel like a king if you drink Sprite," I added and then tried to mimic somewhat of Commodus in the movie _The Gladiator_. I also failed up the mimic.

Sodapop laughed and gave me a clap on the back. "You look small for your age," he added. "Gee thanks, man. And am I supposed to say you look like James Franco or something?"

"Who?" Steve asked.

Reality set me in and I realized what I said. "If they find out, I'm dead," I thought. I'm panicking and I don't know what to say.

"Uh, you know...my pal, yeah, my pal, James Franco. He was the hunk of um...Kansas. Always got the girls swooning for him," I added.

Steve and Sodapop looked at me in confusion.

"He's got a nice car too, a silvered mustang. It drove fast, like really, really fast!" I continued.

Sodapop laughed and put his arm across my shoulder. He then proceed to give me a noogie on my now greased hair (don't ask why I decided to put on grease, Steve forced me too). I didn't mind the noogie that much because I don't like the grease. It's annoying my hair.

Meanwhile, Steve not only looked like he was not believing what I just say but he also looked as if he finally figured something out. I tried to shrug it off, but it wasn't leaving my mind.

After dinner and me trying to make up some facts about my best friend 'James Franco', all three of us went back home. After dropping off Sodapop at his house (and his yell of promise to write a letter to 'James Franco'), Steve was silent and turned the volume down on his radio. He then pulled up his windows, and before doing so, looked outside the window for a brief second.

After doing all these tasks, he took a raspy breath and muttered "I think this belongs to you,"

He looked under his car and pulled out a familiar copy of a book.

Once he pushed it onto my face more closely, I realized what that familiar book was.

"You know what? I knew you were different ever since the day you came inside the drag races… I don't know how, you had this vibe that you didn't fit in with all of us. Besides, it was kind of obvious, the misuse of grease language, the disgust you got not even looking at our clothes but the socs clothes too. I think there's more but I'm forgot which ones...Oh yeah, I know that even country dudes know who Audrey Hepburn is or even Andy Griffith,"

"Fuck…" I mumbled.

"Wow kid, what vocabulary you got," he laughed.

"And besides, no one carries this book about what seems to be the future part of the gang's life," Steve added.

"That's because it is," I answered. "Pass me a cigarette," I asked, my eyes trailing up to the top of the car.

"Yeah here," Steve replied, handing me a lit cigarette. I smoked a bit off it, the pepper taste in my mouth kind of soothing the event of today.

"So, what questions you got for me?"

"Your name?" Steve asked.

"Weird, out of all the questions, you ask for my name. It's Colby, Colby Ashford,"

"Colby, nice name," Steve mused about.

The next 20 minutes were spent of Steve asking me many questions such as:

"Where are you from?"

" _From a different universe, where you're...book characters and I guess you could say from different time, 'cause I live during the year of 2017,"_

"Why did you come here?"

" _To save Dallas and Johnny,"_

It was then I proceeded to tell him about the original storyline of 'The Outsiders' before I went ahead and kind of switched it up.

"You're here to save...them? You're crazy,"

I took out the device out of my zipped-up leather jacket. I pressed the button and the familiar voice " _Where would you like to go?"_ appeared along with the blue screen.

Steve was in shock for a few seconds, he then shook his head and started to laugh. Like an unbelievable-laugh.

"Well, fuck," he muttered.

"Wow, such vocabulary," I sarcastically said, trying to lighten up the mood.

We sat in the car in silence after that. I was trying to turn on the radio, but didn't know how. Finally Steve turned it on, and some folk rock song was playing.

"You know who that is?" Steve asked.

I shooked my head.

"Bob Dylan. I like Elvis sure but damn, this guy is a legend. The song name is _All Along The Watchtower_ , and I think it's my favourite," he answered, and was shaking his head a bit. He then started to hum and tap his feet.

I looked at him for a few moments before saying "Your not mad?"

He shooked his head, smiled and gave me another noogie on my wrecked hair.

"Nope, but letting you know that Curly knows this too,"

"Curly, as in Curly Shepard?! How?!"

He shrugged. "Not only have I told him about my assumptions but he just can tell,"

"Just don't tell anyone else. Not Johnny, Ponyboy, or even Sodapop. Only Curly and you should know this is all," I added.

As soon as Sodapop was mentioned, Steve started to look uncomfortable. He kind of started to fidget on his leather car seat.

"I can't do that...I can't lie to him," he whispered.

I suddenly felt guilt climbing into my heart and realized what I just said. Steve and Sodapop are best friends. They probably are those best friends that you told everything too. The ones that comfort each other through rough times.

I didn't know any friendship like that because in our time, Friends that you once thought you can trust and love, throw you under the bus the day after.

"I know...I didn't mean to upse-"

"I'm not mad, it's just...I never did this to any of the gang before, especially to Sodapop," he replies and then looks away from me, like as if he doesn't also want to hurt my feelings. My head starts to ache again - how could he still treat me like one of the gang members, after all I have done is lie about everything and mess up their friendship.

The Ssilence that follows after this consume again consumed as us with the , the exception being of the song, _All Along The Watchtower_ being played like background music to an epic movie scene.

"Steve...you're a great guy to talk too, you don't have to-" I try to explain

"I gotta, if it's not for me, then it gotta be for Johnny and Dallas. If they die...lord knows what will happen to us,"

I nodded and let out a huge yawn.

"You must be tired, here I'll let you sleep over at Two-Bit's house for the night,"

"Thanks Steve, you're a great pal," I mumbled.

He laughed a bit. "Go to sleep, Colby,"

Being able to hear my original name again after a few days felt some kind of relief to me. I didn't have to act like 'Teddy' anymore to everyone. Just to certain people.

I sighed contentedly and tried to close my eyes for a bit. Sleep was taking over me, and the last few words I heard was from the song, _All Along The Watchtower:_

" _No reason to get excited_

 _The thief he kindly spoke_

 _There are many here among us_

 _Who feel that life is but a joke"_

 _I try to think of life as a one big joke like the song's lyrics but i can't even think about living life like that when every thing I do can alter someone's life in this dimension. I can't make life a joke, because there is nothing funny about death._

I'm thinking about this thought hours after this time. It's about midnight when I finally drift off to sleep, still thinking about this.


	10. Chapter 10

It is now Wednesday.

I only have 3 more days to change the book.

Or at least avoid the murder of Bob Sheldon and the fire at Windrixville Church.

After spending the night at Two-Bit's house. I was greeted in the morning with scrambled eggs, a loud 7 year old girl, sleep-deprived Two-Bit and last but not least Dallas Winston.

Dallas probably came by Two-Bit's just to check up on him.

Or at me.

Or at the scrambled eggs.

When he saw me, he gave me a sickly cougar-like smile and let out a loud burp before saying:

"Good Morning, ya little shit,"

"Morning to you too, Dally," I mumbled, trying to get the sleepiness out of my voice.

He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Get up princess, you got a school to go too,"

"I'm not going," I mumbled and tried to turn my head the other way.

"You gotta,"

"Why do you care so much for me going to school?"

"I can't annoy Ponyboy and Steve since they're going on a field trip, and Two-Bit's skipping, that's what I heard. And I got to go to school just to see if Sylvia really is two-timing me...again,"

I sighed and got up. I stretched my arms and legs and ruffled my hair a bit.

"That's it?"

"...I'll buy you a coke,"

"Deal,"

So, off we went, leaving Two-Bit behind with his crazy baby sister and a stomach full of scrambled eggs.

As soon as I sat inside the red sleek car, Dallas hit the pedal and sped away.

It was a miracle that a police car didn't stop us as soon as we reached school. If it did, I'll never be able to change the book in time, since Dallas would smart off to the cops and get us both in jail.

Dallas parked the car and we both hopped out, me heading to the direction inside the school where as Dallas was heading towards the field. In the end I followed him, not only because of the death glare he gave me, but he promised me a coke and I couldn't say no.

We reached to the field where the football team and the cheerleaders were practicing. It looked like they were practicing their fifth game because the players were all sweating. You could see the sweat falling off their faces, and the fact that the guys already took their shirt off. The cheerleaders were too busy gazing at the football players to practice their next chant.

"Why are we here?"

"If I know a Sylvia, she'll be here"

"Yeah, well, I don't," I muttered.

He gave me another death glare and I instantly turned the other way. Soon enough, a girl with jet black hair wearing too much make up and clothes that showed too much of her body, appeared in front of us and started to cheer unnecessarily. She didn't seem to notice us and was looking at one of the football players. That football player smiled and gave her a wink, and she winked back.

"I knew it," he muttered.

"I knew it too," I said. "You can just kind of tell, she sends off this bad news vibe wherever she is,"

I also knew it because I read about her in the book.

Sylvia needs to take down her sex drive a notch.

"But what if that's her brother or something?"

"She doesn't have a brother. And even if that was her brother, then why wink at him. Is she going to have sex with him too?"

"What the-"

He interrupts me before I can continue to let out my colourful vocabulary.

"I'm about to teach that son of a-"

"Wow, calm down Dallas, just calm down," I tried to reason with him. Pulling him back from hurting that football player and his sorry excuse of a girlfriend.

"I will not calm the fuck down!" he yelled. He jabbed me in the chest and ran, pushing that football player and starting to punch him. The crowd was already starting to form and I couldn't help but ran out of the field.

I don't give two shits if I ditched Dallas, I'm not going to get my 'identity' figured out by everyone soon.

I ran into the school, holding my chest and struggling to breath when I saw Steve and Curly together, aimlessly walking around together. "Weird? Doesn't Steve have a field trip today?" I thought, but I was too busy to continue thinking. I felt my chest being hard like a unbreakable shell. It's so weird how Dallas can manage to jab some into the chest that hard.

When they saw me, they instantly let out a smile, not completely aware of the fact that I felt I was going to die in any moment now.

"Hey Colby, did Dallas get to ya?" Curly chuckled. To add more pain, he gave me a huge punch on the shoulder.

I almost forgot that Curly and Steve know who I really am. God, it felt great to hear my sorry excuse of a name again.

"Yeah, how do you know?" I mumbled, letting out a cough and a heavy breath. They laughed a bit lightly and Steve shook his head. "We saw the fight while walking into school, it was pretty hairy-"

"What? Like there was hair everywhere?" I asked.

"No dumb one, it was out of control. Geez, you sound exactly like an old dead guy from the 1800's," Curly added.

"1800's, wow, thanks guys, I feel loved," I added, and suddenly rolled my eyes.

"Hey, let's ditch out of here, this place gives me the creeps. And I might be able to treat your 'bruise' before we leave," Steve said suddenly.

"Okay," I coughed a bit. "But first, I got to take someone with me,"

After treating my pain in the chest (which all I had to do was hold and ice pack for an hour), we found Amelia wandering down the halls again. She's probably skipping art again since she showed up to school wearing a Yellow Parisian Style Dress.

She was shocked when she saw me, Steve and Curly waiting for her as soon as she reached the end of the hallway.

"Hey," I greeted her.

She let out that breathtaking smile again. "Hey Teddy," she greeted back.

"Who are they?"

"Chaperones,"

"Morning ma'am," Curly said. He jokingly took a bow, Steve followed.

"Morning, gentlemen, where are we off too?" she asked, after doing a small curtsy.

"Oklahoma City," I replied and held her hand against mine.

Suddenly, it felt like all four of us we're in the 1960 version of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.

All four of us we're ditching school, lying to teachers and even lying to parents. It felt great to do this, it felt kind of great with no phones/wi-fi, just us against the world.

"It will take us an hour or more to get to Oklahoma City, you sure you want to stay in the car that long," Steve asked as soon as we got into his car.

"I'm fine with it, I mean, I might need shelter if Tim finds out I ditched but otherwise, what the heck?" Curly replied.

"You might need to make room for me as well when you find shelter," Amelia added.

"Yeah sure, Soc," Curly added jokingly.

She let out a quiet chuckle.

An hour and a half filled with old music later, we finally reached Oklahoma City. It's not what I had expected but it looks nice. Gives it a retro feel wherever you go.

Steve parked his car in a curb and we got out, not caring where we're going, as long as we go somewhere and had fun.

"You know, this is my first time going to Oklahoma City," Curly mused. He looked at the girls wearing long skirts passing by him flirtatiously and gave them a wink. One of the girls sighed and Amelia quietly laughed at that. I did too.

"Yeah, me too, how about you Steve?" I asked him. At the moment, Steve was eyeing Amelia laying her head on my shoulder while I put my arm around my waist. He then says "Fifth or sixth, what about you Amelia?"

"I don't know, my dad doesn't like coming here,"

We all walked in comfortable silence after that, Amelia and I kept on looking into each other's eyes every few seconds.

"So, it is now 10 am in the morning, what shall we do?" I asked.

"There's this cool museum I saw in those pamphlets they were handing out at school. I think it's filled with art, and even a theatre, it was quite new," Amelia answered. She was still looking into my eyes as soon as she said the answer. Because of it, I heard Curly mutter "Just kiss already,".

"Why not? Then there's that zoo that everyone's talking about at school," Steve added.

"Yeah! Yeah! I know what you're talking about! That zoo with all the cute animals!" Curly yelled.

"What about lunch? Or dinner?"

"We should get back here before school ends...So around 2:45 we live, school ends exactly at 4:45," Amelia added.

While excitedly talking about our plan for the day, I instantly remembered something that could help us stay a bit longer.

"Hey, you know that field trip Dallas said you and Ponyboy were suppose to go to? What is it here?"

Steve was confused at first but then his face lit up as if he suddenly remembered something. "Yeah, how come?"

"Let's act like we were in a field trip. Did any of you tell your parents or siblings you'll be on this trip?" I asked.

They nodded.

"Okay, so what time do they return?"

"7 pm,"

"That's perfect. All we got to do is when we get home to our parents, we lie and say we were in that field trip, okay?"

Funny thing is, I didn't have my parents living here to lie too about my 'field trip'.

"Okay, that's fine with me," Amelia replied in agreement. Curly and Steve followed suite.

We were, at the moment, finished looking at the museum (can you believe it cost a 4 dimes for an admission?) and were now eating our Drumsticks behind the zoo's huge fountain. It tasted nothing compared to Drumsticks I love back in my world. But it tasted okay.

"The baby tigers were cute? Did it have a name?"

"We'll name it _Colby_ ," Curly decided after a minute of thinking. I looked at him in shock but he gave me a smirk along with a wink.

" _Colby_ the tiger...I like it," Amelia was lucky enough she had no idea that my friend decided to name a tiger after me.

As soon as we finished eating our drumsticks, Steve had decided to go out and get us fries and hot dogs and Curly decided to accompany him (also know as "Let's leave Colby with Amelia and hope that they at least _go all the way_ ; which we won't by the way).

As soon as they left, Amelia held my hand tighter and decided to lay her head down.

"What if I kissed you?" I asked.

"All of sudden?" she asked back. She looked happy that I asked this question. Maybe she wanted to kiss me as well.

"Yeah, like, if you turned away for a sec-"

She turned her head away.

"And I, um, cup my hands so you don't turn away that beautiful face of yours," and as soon as I finished that sentence, I cupped my hands onto her warm face. Her face turned back to look at me, showing her dark brown eyes that glistened like frozen milk chocolate. They shined even more when the sun beam hits her. Lips that was filled with pink shiny lip gloss. It radiates and I feel more lost in the sight of her lips than her dark brown eyes.

Her gaze lowers back to my lips as well. "And..." she says it so quietly, I felt my breath hitch.

"And I, um, take a good look at you and..."

I pecked her on the lips quickly and before I could pull away, she kisses back and for once, in my first kiss, I'm not feeling happy, I feel guilty. But at the same time, I feel okay.

Feelings like these can sure ruin the best things in life.

We were now done looking at the zoo and were eating lunch at the . The dishes we all ordered (Steak Burger along with Oreo Milkshakes) tasted great. Especially the Steak burger.

It may be hard to find a anywhere in my time now. Probably because the company was bankrupt and sold out all their restaurants.

Or it could be because they gave up.

Amelia and I we're now holding hands again. After our kiss, we were acting awkward yet 'cute' around each other.

Steve and Curly must have noticed the awkward atmosphere roaming around because they didn't say anything instead of chowing down their sandwiches.

They were lucky though, our awkward atmosphere disappeared when we watched _Bonnie and Clyde_ at the theatres.

"What a babe? Wasn't she?" Curly asked Steve as soon as we came out of the movie theatre.

"Yeah, I would kill for a girl like that," Steve replied.

"Well shit, Steve," I looked at him weirdly. Amelia did the same and soon we both laughed, and then pecked each other's lips for a second.

"Oh god, just get married already," Curly joked around.

"Gladly," Amelia replied and she cracked a smile.

We left Oklahoma City after 5:45 pm and finally reached to Tulsa at around 6:30 pm. By then, we were tired but yet happy since we had such a good time.

We dropped off Amelia at school since her dad was going to pick her up exactly at 7 pm (since he believes she was on the trip).

Before, we left, I said to her:

"Have I ever told you, I love you?"

She looked at me at shock but her lips curled into a smile.

"Yeah," she answered, not sure where this was going.

"How?" I asked her.

She smiled and sucked her cheeks in. She swayed a bit to the side and her dress twirled as she did so. Amelia was standing on her tippy toes and I realized she was trying to act dorky.

"Like this!" and as soon as she yelled, she gave me a quick kiss and ran off, her laugh could be heard from a distance.

I chuckled before yelling "You dirty soc!"

"Call me you hoodlum!" she yelled back.

As soon as she left, Curly and Steve looked at me and smilied before Curly asked:

"You're lucky, Colby,"

And I knew I was...


	11. Chapter 11

I instantly knew something was up when Steve calls me at 4 am in the morning through Two-Bit's phone.

I didn't get up at first, and when I did, it was because the ringing reminded me of my alarm clock on my phone.

"Fuck you want?" I mumbled. I was still tired and I just wanted to sleep on the floor. Two-Bit's couch beated nothing like my bed. God, when I get home, the first thing I do is sleep on my bed.

"Colby, it's Steve, I need to talk to you,"

Whatever Steve wanted must be something important, there was frantic in his whisper and he seemed scared.

"Did the Socs get you?"

"No! It's Johnny,"

Silence.

What happened to Johnny?

I felt dread and started to sweat nervousely. "Where?"

"At the lot,"

I threw the phone down and taking my leather jacket and converse, ran outside as soon as I heard the location.

I ran down the street, not caring to check if the door I left was opened. My feet was hurting and I was struggling to breathe but I don't care because me being tired is not important.

Johnny is.

By the time I reached the lot, there were already tears streaming down my face. The wind kept on blowing them off, but more tears still kept on appearing.

By the time I reached the lot, Steve, Curly and Johnny were there.

Okay and not in harm.

Instantly, I let out a scream and fell down onto the broken car seat I sat on the first time I came here.

"What-"

I took a deep breath and then continued crying.

"What the fuck was this, huh?! You made it seem like Johnny was dead! Shit, Johnny," I sniffled and continued sobbing, covering my hands on my face.

"Don't cry," he looked at me with guilt .

I gulped and nodded, rubbing my eyes and trying to clean out every bit off tear stain on my face.

"Don't look at me, goddamn it! I hate crying," I mumbled out.

"Golly, Teddy, how come? The last time I cried was when my friend died," Curly chuckled a bit, trying to ease the tension in the air. But his chuckle sound foreign.

"Friend?" I sniffled and then started to laugh because death seemed like something grandparents would talk about, not teenagers who got a whole life in front of them.

"Yeah...died in a car accident last summer,"

"How come-"

"I didn't tell you?" he finished my question. "I didn't want too. He was crazy to call me my friend, all we did was..."

He sighed and then hesitated for a few seconds.

"Just drank beer and maybe hanged out after school or when we skipped," he then continues.

"He didn't hurt me like all the others did in Tim's gang. He treated me fair and didn't treat me like a greaser. Just a human," Curly started to laugh.

"You're a weird guy you know that Co-"

Steve gave him a death glare, he almost forget that Johnny was right in front of him.

"I'm sorry, my mistake. Teddy, you're such a weird guy," Curly turned his head around and sighed. He was crying because he was rubbing his eyes every often.

"Was he drunk when he died?"

"Y-yeah, wanna know why? Cause the bastard got into a fight with me. He left, got drunk and hit a pricey car," Curly then sat in silence, not saying anything but instead looked at me.

"What is this? A sobbing fest? Mind if I join in?" Steve asked us, trying to ease tension in the air. Curly nodded.

"Shit, I'll join too," Johnny was laughing as soon as he said that.

"Well, Ponyboy and I, when we were at the field trip, we both went to the washroom. You know cause the teacher wanted us to go with the buddy everywhere we were going," Johnny said all of a sudden, took out a cigarette from his packet and lit it up. He passed it around and all three of us took it and lit it.

"And, we were just talking... and then that's when he kissed me. I knew I had feelings for him and all but I completely freaked out for a sec," Johnny pulled out his cigarette and breathed out smoke.

"We were silent and then we kissed again, and again, and again,"

"Slow...Passionate. I was holding onto him and he kept on kissing me,"

"And then?"

"I got up and left and here I am, crying my eyeballs out for nothing at all,"

Curly started to laugh. "What I experienced is nothing compared to your story, Johnny,"

"Well fuck," and soon all four of started to laugh and cry at the same time. We didn't even know what we were feeling right now.

It was then, I realized, that these aren't just book characters. They're people who just were forced to be stuck in a shitty problem and end up getting a shitty ending.

All in all, I was thinking about how my life was the worse because we lived in a one story house, I only had one friend, I couldn't stand up to a girl I love and how I'm forced to see bad things happening in my generations where all we worry about is who's posting what next or you have to wear this or act like this to be accepted.

But these guys:

Steve, Ponyboy, Curly, Tim, Dallas, Darry, Sodapop, Two-Bit and Johnny; they lived in a neighbourhood much worser than mine. They got their parents dead, beating them up, leaving them and worst of all not giving two shits about them. To top it all of, they're getting killed, bullied and jumped at because their poor. They get a reputation for doing nothing that most people in their neighbourhood do.

I look at them and back at my cigarette. It was almost done but I couldn't care less, I threw it down and stomped on it. I felt my eyes getting blurrier and knew that the tears were going to come out because I felt all so mixed up.

"Sorry," I mumbled out.

"What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong," Steve replied.

"Oh yeah? Well, I did! I did the most stupidest thing I ever did in my whole entire life," I yelled out.

Steve closed his mouth in an instant. Curly and Johnny looked at me, now scared that I was going to blow up on them as well.

I sighed and stood up for a sec.

"Shit, I'm just mixed up," I muttered.

"Aren't we all?"

And soon, the four of us ended up crying and laughing together, all while sharing our smokes.

When I woke up this morning, I noticed Two-Bit looking at me like a hawk.

"Morning Teddy Bear,"

Ever since I started staying at his house, that's all he could call me:

"Hey Teddy Bear,"

"Where's your clothes, Teddy Bear?"

"Aww, does Teddy Bear need a stuffing...A STUFFING OF COTTON?!"

"I guess you could say Teddy Bear is...overstuffed,"

I bolted up and looked at him for a few seconds.

"What, Two-Bit?"

My tears were visibly shown on the scratchy pillow Two-Bit gave me last night.

"I need you to come with me to the grocery store. Like right now,"

I got up and sighed, walking into the kitchen to get me a glass of water.

"Wearing this?" I asked, showing him what I was wearing only, a maroon vest and red flannel shorts.

"Yeah, why not?"

I stood up from the makeshift bed and started to stretch my legs which were now hurting like hell.

"Where's your mom? Or your sister?"

"My old lady went to work, and Donna went to school. And since our high school has a P.A day, I figured why not you and me go together?" Two-Bit was playing with his switchblade, which for some reason didn't make me jump out of my own skin like I thought it would.

Maybe, since I spend so much time hanging around a bad neighbourhood, I got used to things that could affect anyone living in our time horribly.

I'm used to this and it scares me.

"Why not?" I muttered.

"So, all we need are three more items and we're done. Milk, hot dog buns and sausage," I added as Two-Bit and I added our item 'Cake mix' into the cart.

"Golly, that's a lot, don't you think,"

"I'll pay for it all. It can't seem that much,"

"$30 of food isn't that much to you?" Two-Bit's jaw dropped as soon as he heard what I just say.

"Yeah, it's not that much. If you need to steal anything go ahead, just meet me at the parking lot,"

Two-Bit smiled and his dark grey eyes crinkled. He ruffled my hair (not really because I let out an 'Ouch' as soon as he tried too) and nodded before heading off to the 7th aisle.

I went off to get the last three items I need and rolled the cart to the cashier register. I was aware that I was in the Soc area shopping for food but Two-Bit deserves more food and their isn't a grocery store in the Greased Tulsa.

But then again, I didn't mind at all. This is the same grocery store that Amelia works in which is fine by me.

I pushed the cart down the pink coloured floor. It was smooth and polished. The polish smell was still lingering around in the air and I breathed in the weirdly good smell. Passing by the frozen food section, I finally reached the aisle and tried to jump up and down just to see if Amelia was at one of the cash registers. Wearing a new dress.

Waiting for me.

I finally saw her helping out her last customer, pushed the cart and ran as fast as I could before anyone else could take my spot. As soon as I did, the last customer, an old lady slouching and carrying a big red purse, was putting her last plastic bag in her old wheely cart.

"Tell your no good sorry excuse of a brother that if I ever catch him ruining my gardens, I'll personally beat the tar out of him and send him all the way to hell," she said.

"Don't worry , I'll take care of him. Have a nice day!"

She grunted but smiled as she did so and was off.

When Amelia saw me, she gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

"How's your one day vacation going?"

I shrugged.

"It's going great. But it would be better if someone helped me out today in this wonderful grocery store,"

She giggled and put all the groceries in the bag.

"Yeah, I'm busy...but if you don't mind, I'll give you-"

Amelia grabs two Kit Kats off the shelf beside her. She put the crinkled red package of delicious chocolate bag, without charging it.

"Wow, thanks...I really appreciate it," I answered and gave her a smile. She smiled back and kissed me again on the lips.

"You guys done?" a shout interrupted us as we were about to lean in to have one more kiss.

Amelia gazed downwards, she was blushing red probably due to the embarrassment.

I was hot with embarrassment that I had to take my leather jacket off, which now was burning due to the bright sun beaming against it.

"That would be $25," she mumbled. But she was still smiling.

"Sure thing beautiful," I mumbled back and gave her the exact change.

She helped place the grey, dull shopping bags back into the cart. I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek as a sign of farewell. Before I could get going however, she yelled out a "Wait!" and then said:

"By the way, here's the invite,"

Amelia gave me a pink envelope with a pink sequin covering the flap.

"What is it?" I asked but before she can give an answer, she was already moving on to the next customer.

By the time I reached the end of the parking lot, I already knew something was going on.

I was already near Two-Bit's car and was putting away the bags in the back trunk when I heard a switch blade opening. It made kind of a 'swift' sound, sounded brand new and something no one would want to mess with.

I quickly pushed the leftover plastic bags filled with food into the trunk and slammed it shut. I ran, continuing past the parking lot, my converse slapping down the cracked pavement. A fight was already forming between Two-Bit and that gorilla I promised to myself never to meet again.

A crowd was already forming. Mostly Greaser guys and Socs guy smoking off their last Marlon cigarettes.

"What the hell is going on?" I yelled. The crowd was already looking at my way by the time I reached.

Two-Bit looked at me, ducked when Danny tried to punch him and smiled like the grim Joker.

"Hey Teddy Bear! Glad you can make it! What took you so long?"

I gave him the best death glare I can ever give him.

"You are going to die! Die! Die!" Danny yelled. He was struggling to atleast get a stab on at least a body part of Two-Bit's.

He laughed like the crazy maniac he was.

"You can go to hell! Hell! Hell!" and with that Two-Bit finally punched the living day lights out of the piece of shit. He fell onto the ground, but stood up, wiping the freshly red blood coming through his nose.

"Tell your mother I said hi! Tell her I also enjoyed the sucking she gave me last night!"

Two-Bit's crazy, brimming with insane grey eyes, flickered away as soon as he said...that.

"The hell you said about my ma?" he looked nothing like the description talked about in the book. Nothing like the same dumb ass who was always reminding me of a 60's joker in a Batman movie.

Before Two-Bit can do anything, I went forward and grabbed a spectator Coke glass bottle from his hand. I smashed on the new cutted grass and picked up the remaining parts of the bottle.

I held it like a switchblade, only my hand was downwards and I didn't want to move. I had no idea what I was even doing. I could feel the sweat starting to form on my back. I gulped and then muttered something so familiar:

"You get back into your car or you'll get split,"

At first, the crowd was confused and there was a slight murmur passing from one side but ended as soon as the Socs were about to pass it along to the Greasers.

Danny smiled at me. That son of a bitch smile he always carries. The one that says _You can never hurt me_.

"You get back into your car or you'll get split!" I yelled so loud that everyone was taken aback. Even Two-Bit who was silently crying and viewing the whole time. I walked quickly forward to him and was about to throw the first punch before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Let it go, man...Let it go," I instantly knew the voice belonged to Two-Bit because his voice was filled with cracks and sniffles.

"Okay, Okay," I kept on muttering. The crowd by the already dispersed and Danny ran off with them, seeing it was a good chance to.

We walked silently all the way to the car and sat in the front. The uncomfortable leather wasn't pissing me off as it did before. Two-Bit and I sat in silence, something that rarely happens between us.

Finally, he started the engine. The familiar annoying purr rang in my ears and before I could sigh or atleast say something in comfort, he said something that changed my view on him for the rest of my life:

"Thanks Teddy..."

 _"Thanks for saving my life..."_


	12. Chapter 12

I kept on pulling Ponyboy's tangles as he laid his head on my lap.

He kept on muttering "Ouch" yet I tried to make sure to do I was doing it soft yet smoothly.

"Johnny," he murmured.

It was real quiet during the night.

I guess that's why we enjoyed meeting up here every night.

From 9 P.M to 10 P.M, we sit at the park and talk and if we were lucky at least sneak a kiss once in awhile.

I could thank Teddy for this.

For all of this, really.

For giving me atleast a bit of courage, something that Ponyboy would definitely like about me.

When Pony glanced both ways, he gave me a quick kiss on the lips that soon turned passionate. They felt soft, and warm. Really warm lips that could make me feel like I was in Hawaii in the middle of fall in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He smelled like Berry Shampoo and I kept tugging on his hair and arching my back. We kept on panting after every few seconds before we stopped abruptly as soon as I was about to take my Jean Jacket off.

"Wait, wait! It's too cold!" he yelled out, stopping me.

I nodded dumbly, really didn't mind how cold it is, I needed more.

"I think I love you," Pony muttered. We were now in his bedroom, me going through the window and Pony going through the front. We were passing our smokes around, jokingly trying to bite the smoke like we were fish biting worms in hooks.

I couldn't say anything though. I didn't know how.

Pony must have understood what was happening because he gave me a kiss on the cheek. He looked at me with those doe green eyes and I felt myself getting lost in them.

All four of us thought it was a good idea to go to one of Buck's 'special' parties.

When I mean four, I mean Teddy, Curly, Ponyboy and me.

It was some kind of 'lights down low' party where the only thing you can see were candles and just flashlights.

Curly and Teddy went off as soon as we reached the place, and the lights were turned off, and candles were lit and flashlights were on. I knew why they did though, they were trying their hardest to get us 'together'.

I thank them for that.

It was only 30 minutes later when everyone in the party got crazy.

Loud country music was playing and there was loud moans, whoops, cheers and singing along.

Soon, the two of us were having fun.

Dancing, shuffling, spinning around and jumping up and down like crazy banshees.

As soon as the _Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town_ was over, the next song played, only, it wasn't a country song yet a slow song. I think _Born Free_ by Frank Sinatra. As soon as his voice let out the first word, we instantly moved closer to each other.

Our waist were bumping into each other, we were so close.

Lips just inches apart from one another.

I felt myself cupping his cheeks and brushing a strand of Ponyboy's red ashy hair away from his face.

I felt myself pressing my lips against his, trying to get at least most of the taste in his mouth.

Hands wavering around one another.

It felt perfect.

It felt like it was just him and I.

Just dancing away and moving closer.

I felt peace.

I felt loved.

As soon as the party was over, the four of us went separate ways. Curly and Teddy were going to go to drugstore to buy liquor while Pony and I were going to walk back to Pony's house.

It was pouring hard, you could hear the rain hit the cracks at the road harder and harder, the more further away we got from Buck's place.

In films, rain makes everything look dramatic, it apparently represents whatever the emotion is.

But today, the rain felt peaceful. It felt beautiful even more in the night.

As we walked hand in hand through the rain I felt myself smile and running.

Faster and faster, I felt as if I stopped walking altogether. I felt like I was running in patchy grass.

I leaped and shout and whooped so loud, I wanted the whole neighbourhood to hear me scream.

Ponyboy catched up to me by then and started to yell as well.

We were happy.

We felt alive.

As soon as we stopped near Pony's house, we took a huge breath but continued panting like wild dogs.

Pony looked at me with those green mesmerizing eyes and I felt myself getting lost again. I traced his face with my thumb softly and kissed him, almost feeling the blood on my veins electrify and felt myself in a dream like trance.

He looked at me in curiosity and as he did so, his lips pouted a bit and I instantly found myself pecking his lips once again.

"What was that for?" he breathed out.

"I love you too,"


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey," Amelia greeted me through the top of her maple spiral staircase.

I can't say anything though because I'm too lost for words to describe how beautiful she looks.

Stunning.

Gorgeous.

Beautiful.

Perfect.

She was wearing a red _Ivory Rita Criss Cross Halter Flare Dress_ (basically a red cotton dress with a criss cross top) along with Black skinny high heels with her hair all out.

She was wearing loads of makeup, what seems to bring out the most beautiful girl I ever seen is those red lips. Shiny, smooth and bold.

I smiled and looked down what I was wearing. Only a white t-shirt with a black bow tie along with a Plaid Farrell suit and Tie. These weren't even my clothes. Darry had to fetch me something to wear and make me look less like a Greaser.

"I mean, if you want to look like a Greaser and get kicked out the as soon as you walk in, by all means go ahead," Darry told me as soon as I told him where I was going.

Besides, this is Amelia were talking about, not Cherry Valence, who I do not want to see.

"Amelia...wow...I...I...I...I," before I can say anything, Amelia walks slowly like a cat trying to catch it's prey, as she does so, her hair move sides to side, like Ruby's everytime she walks past me to get to her next class. She finally reaches the last step and she does, her dress lifts up a bit and I felt my knees starting to shake.

She smiled and pressed her lips against mines. I felt like I couldn't be able to move so I pulled her closer and before I can start kissing her neck, I felt footsteps approaching and we quickly broke it apart.

I felt dazed, dreamlike, and felt everything was going loose. I felt myself wanting more from her not just a small kiss. Before I can say anything, Amelia starts to giggle, covering her mouth.

"Wait? What happened?" I asked. I'm not only in a dreamlike stance but I feel merely confused. She points at her lips and I touch it, brushing my lips and saw a familiar red mark on my thumb as soon as I did.

I looked down and I started to blush. Before she can start laughing and leave to go to her living room, I pulled her closer, so close, that our foreheads bumped into each other and that we had to rub it to make our forehead less painful.

"Let's get this birthday started,"

As soon as we reached the first hall instead of seeing boring adults we saw teenagers (from the rich side, I was the only Greaser there).

Some were making out on the couches, others were dancing to, what appeared to be the song _I wanna hold your hand_ , while others were well, drinking heavily and chain smoking.

The 1st hall (turned out to be the living room and dining room with all the 'expensive' furniture left in the fourth upstairs room) wasn't as big as I expected, but it still felt bigger than my living room, dining room and entry combined.

There were already waiters and waitresses giving out pepsi (and beer..) as soon as Amelia and I sat down on the couch that was, fortunately, not used with make-out couple. It felt crowded, and I felt already stressed and anxiety come over me, like I was walking those high school hallways on the first day.

Amelia placed her hands above mine and sighed a bit.

"So, are your birthday parties usually like this!" I yelled over the blasting music.

She nodded and laughed.

"I get crazy drunk on my birthday!" Amelia yelled back.

"Really?! Does your father know?"

"He's too busy to care about her daughter's birthday anyway!"

Silence approached, except for the music and the loud cheers of the ongoing game of poker.

I kissed her on the lips swiftly before anyone else could see and she sighed. She was trying not to be mad but by the cracks of her smile, she was failing to do so.

At the moment we were dancing to _Twist And Shout_. It felt fun, and every few oftens, our kisses turned into make-out session until it was abruptly cut of. Amelia was already starting to suck on my neck but I started to feel instantly uncomfortable and soon as she did. I had no clue why though, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I would have thought.

Luckily, she stopped and soon we were jumping up and down and dancing in glee to the ending of _Twist and Shout_.

By the time, the song was done, an Elvis song played on and mostly everyone got up and started to dance.

Except for us and the make-out couple. Amelia and I just sat there and hold hands. Just trying to make sense of the tense yet happy atmosphere.

I got out my present for her in my pocket and gave it to her. The wrapping was blue, with a silver ribbon tied across it. It looked pretty from a close view.

"For me?" she asked.

I nodded. Her smile turned into a frown suddenly.

"Why? You're going to waste your money!"

If I was truly a Greaser, that would've been a problem, but I'm not, luckily, this necklace I got her only costed $20, and besides I didn't even pay because I ran out of all my $50 supply, Dally had to steal it for me…

"It's fine! It didn't cost too much!" I yelled back.

She ripped out the blue wrapping real quick, and soon saw a gold sequin box in front of her eyes, she opened it slowly and gasped a little when she saw the necklace.

"Jeez! Is that the Clear Lucite Beads Necklace!" She yelled and she started to shake in excitement.

"Uh...yeah," I replied. I didn't see anything to get excited for. It was a stolen necklace with clear white beads covering the whole chain.

"Do you know how much I wanted this? Do you know just how popular this is?" She was asking too many questions and I suddenly felt bombarded.

"Uh...no,"

She laughed and gave me a huge hug and because of it, I fell on top of the couch. Luckily, there were no couple sitting beside me.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she repeatedly mutter and kept on kissing the living day lights out of me.

I got up and as soon as I did, our kiss broke apart.

"Give me the necklace!" I asked, out of breath and still in a daze.

She got out the necklace in the gold sequined box and gave it to me.

"Pull you hair up for a second," I mutter, I felt my breath hitting against her neck.

She did and soon I opened up the clasp (which was also covered with beads), put it on her neck and carefully closed the clasp. She let her hair go, hitting me with an instant smell of strawberry shampoo.

Amelia looked down at her necklace, admiring it and delicately grazing the beads. She smiled and before she can lean in to give me another kiss, I felt myself getting pushed away from her and fell on the couch.

"I didn't believe you introduce me to your boyfriend yet, sister…"

I got up from the couch, groaning and instantly took out Two-Bit's old switchblade. I looked up to see Danny, all alone, without his premature gorillas he calls friends.

"Sister?" I was bewildered. I didn't expect Amelia to be related to that piece of shit.

"Leave him alone, Danny! Why don't you pick on someone else?!" Amelia yelled. She was furious, you can see her face turning into bright red.

"He's a Greaser, Amelia! You wait 'till Dad finds out! He's going to kill you for sure!"

I was about to open my mouth to speak but was silenced after Amelia yelled:

"So what if he's a Greaser?!"

"You know what all Greaser's are like! They kill people! They hurt people! Hell, they even can break your hearts if you date them!" Danny yelled.

That was the first time I seen him on the inside come out of him.

He acted cocky, rude and like a jerk on the outside, on the inside, he was scared.

He was scared of Greasers because that's how he was raised to be.

His dad made him feel scared of us because his dad didn't want to be reminded of his past.

When he was a Greaser...

"Fine! You know what! I actually do care that he's a Greaser! I hate how he always looks like a bum and I hate how disgusting him and his friends are! I hate him!"

That's when my face went cold and my hands were starting to form fist.

"What?" I muttered out.

Amelia looked over at me, her eyes wide and she laughed out loud.

"Did you honestly think I wanted to be with you?" she continued laughing.

I was about to storm out and get the device back and go home, but then I realized something and soon I wanted to laugh as well.

When I look at Amelia, her eyes were still filled with love and guilt for me.

Amelia's only acting like this because her brother is here.

And, I did the same.

When she continued laughing, I walked out of her house. She followed me, apparently to make sure "I making sure he doesn't come back! I don't want a piece of trash in my house,".

As soon as she closed the door behind me, she gave me a long hug. I had to hug her back. It felt great and peaceful outside. I didn't have to worry about make outs, beer and smokes filling the crowd.

"You're a great actress! How did you…"

"Don't think this is the last time you'll see me, Teddy," she replied, not really answering my question.

Nevertheless, I nodded and soon gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Besides, I'm sorry about what I said…"

"Calm down Audrey Hepburn!" I joked. "Watch you get an Oscar for Best Actress for 1967,".

She laughed and smiled yet again.

"I love you," I replied after giving her a long hug. But instead of seeing Amelia, I see Ruby.

She gives me a kiss before saying these four words I always wanted to hear, escape from her lips.

"I love you too,"


	14. Chapter 14

The first thing I see, on a rainy night is Ruby.

I see her, wearing that white dress made out of shiny silk.

I see her dancing in the rain, the dress twirls, showing off her toned legs.

I feel my breath hitch.

I go up to her, but I don't see her, just Amelia.

Her face twisted in anger.

She's holding that broken pop bottle.

The same one I used to hold her brother off.

She's yelling threats and obscure words that I can't read.

She stabs me with it and I instantly feel like I can't breath.

I see blood painting my white shirt and I quickly fall onto the ground.

Amelia smirks evilly and I feel tears starting to form in my eyes.

And I want to scream out loud.

"Teddy!"

I'm bolt awake and I instantly let out a breath. I felt sweat starting to form on my forehead and I started to pant. I was sleeping on Two-Bit's couch and I turn around to see Curly litting up a cigar. His blond hair fall into wisp on his forehead as he tried to fix his hair.

"Hey...Curly…" I muttered.

Curly smiled and instantly took out his silvered flask with an unknown engraving a drank a bit of it.

"How loud was I?" I asked him. I covered myself with the makeshift blanket feeling the cool air hitting my chest.

"Sounded like you were going all the way with Amelia,"

I blushed immediately. I guess the good part is that I know the slang a bit.

Curly sighed and handed me a cigarette. I took one and lit it. The burning ember was my only source of light but it radiated a bit of my skin.

"So, what's the news? What brings you here at…"

"2 in the morning?"

I nodded. I let out a smoky breath and breathed in again as soon as I did.

"I...got to tell you...something," he was laughing in between his sentence.

"Is it about Johnny? Or Amelia?" I asked and soon started to get worried, standing up from my bed and made my way to the door, forgetting about the fact that I was shirtless and the fall night was chilly, and would probably freeze me if I ever came out.

Curly stood up as well and stopped me, grabbing my wrist as hard as he ever could, making me wonder if red marks would leave on it. I winced.

"No! You Candyass! It's not about them! It's...I got to tell you something!" his breath smelled like alcohol and I knew he just drank the 'hard-hitting' liquor we bought together after we ditched Buck's party.

He let go of my wrist, and I quickly peered over it in case I saw any red marks.

"What the hell Curly?! Are you fucking crazy!" I yell at him.

His answer was a laugh that was so exotic, he started to giggle and cry, giggled once again and gave a scream. I had no idea what type of laugh it was. He was very drunk that it scared me.

I trembled in fear then and gave a little sigh. Curly heard it and started to laugh his exotic laugh once again.

"Okay, what's wrong, Curly? Why did you come like a drunk mess tonight?"

He smiled and showed his teeth that wasn't shiny white. He took out his flask from his jean pockets, where as soon as he pulled it out, showed a little rip inside the pocket. He opened the flask and drank the whole thing, staggering a bit as he did so.

He then wiped his mouth with his shirt and as he did so, his blonde hair fell in front of his eyes, filled with unhealthy amount of grease.

"You know-" before he can continue, he yelled out another laugh, one that reminded me of James Dean. As he did so, he fell on Two-Bit's beige carpet, and started to cry covering his face with his hands.

"You know my…my friend that died in the car accident-"

"Yeah," I said, unsurely, not know where the conversation was going.

"Well...Well…" He let out a loud sob and I instantly had no idea what was going on. I really hope that Two-Bit doesn't wake up as well as his sister and his mom.

I instantly went down onto the floor with him and held him. He, at first, seemed reluctant but gave in. He was shaking and tears were pouring down his face so much.

I felt bad and started to rub his back, having no clue or idea how to calm his drunk self down. I picked him up, my arms on his waist and his arms on my shoulder. We both staggered all the way to the bathroom, trying my best not to wake up Two-Bit (Curly's Sobs were getting louder by each minute). I set him to lay down on the floor and proceeded to turn on the bath tub.

He was wailing and both of cold pale blue eyes turned soft and were red from the tears by the time the bathtub was filled with half of water.

"Curly, take off your damn clothes," I told him. He was too busy wailing to do so.

I took off his shirt, revealing the fact that although he drinks and smokes alot his body was still in good shape and had a good built. I picked him up and placed him in the bathtub, letting the warm water soak him.

After a few moments of wailing and sobbing like a banshee, he was splashing water at me and at his face, his hair was now gone of grease because he places it inside the water and now looked beautiful, like hair from a Shampoo Commercial.

"Da da da da da da da da da Batman!" he yelled out and splashed water on my hair for the fifth time.

"Jesus Curly! You're ruining my hair!"

Curly let out his familiar chuckle and then screamed.

He finally calm down and by the time he did, I already lost 2 hours of sleep.

"Did I ever tell you that my friend was my boyfriend?!" Curly was about to laugh again but then realized what he had just said.

At first, I felt really confused on who he was talking about until I realized after five minutes. I felt hurt for some reason, I mean he was a book character, but he was my best friend, like Steve and Johnny.

"How come-"

"I didn't tell you? I didn't want too. He was crazy to call me my boyfriend, all we did was have sex in his house because I was horny bastard. He didn't-" he takes a shaky breath then continues.

I almost forgot by the way he was talking that he wasn't crazy drunk.

"He didn't play with my heart is all I'm going to say. He'd buy me shit I didn't want whenever we were alone, and after sex, well, we just talked...So me calling him my boyfriend made much more sense," Curly started to laugh.

And before I can start speaking, he let out a sob. This time, a heart wrenching sob that made me start crying as well.

Curly was finally fast asleep. He was only wearing bright green boxers brief that I had to steal from Two-Bit. His face was already filled with dry tears and I had to sometimes tuck his blonde and now clean hair behind his ear.

I wish he got to sleep like this more often.

I was too busy tucking Curly's hair to even hear the phone ring. As soon as it did, Two-Bit raced and fell down numerous times to get it.

"He is such a heavy sleeper," I thought to myself.

Two-Bit answered the phone and after a few minutes, his sleepy demeanour quickly changed to alarmed, anger and distraught. He slammed the phone down so hard, it made a sickly crack.

"What's going on?"

He looked at me dead in the eyes and then laughed out loud. A scary laugh that made me tremble and shake a bit. Curly opened his eyes as soon as he heard the laugh, his cold pale blue eyes were now gone.

"Haven't you heard...Pony and Johnny are faggots!"

My eyes widened and so did Curly's and I instantly felt like throwing up.


	15. Chapter 15

No one was supposed to know.

No one.

The three of us piled into Two-Bit's car and sped through all the way until we reach the Curtis house.

When we got there, there was no Ponyboy and Johnny in sight. Just Sodapop, Steve, and Darry. They were all huddled in the living room and only Sodapop and Darry were speaking, showing gestures of anger.

Curly gulped and for some reason held my hand and gave it a squeeze. I didn't mind, I needed it as well.

"Where the heck is Dallas?" Two-Bit asked. I instantly felt all the comfort, jokes and his kindness wash over me like an ocean. Only this time, it wasn't going to come back.

He tried to place his hand on my shoulder, seeing that I was tense, but I moved away from him, going near Steve. Curly did the same.

"Didn't you know? He beat it. Once he found out that dear Johnny was a fairy, he left. Turns out he's going to find the both of them and kill them," Soda explained it to Two-Bit like it was no big deal that his own brother he loved so much was going to get killed for who he likes.

But I heard a crack in Soda's voice as soon as he said it, and for once, I think he did care.

He just didn't want to show it.

Darry's eyes hardened as well and I felt such an angry atmosphere in the room. I felt like I couldn't even breathe, that I was actually in the shallow part of the ocean, where I couldn't swim back to the surface.

Like I was chained to the gang's thoughts and feelings.

Like I was carrying a burden.

"...What are you going to do?" I mumbled out.

The three of them looked at me as if the question was unbelievable, and I was surprised not to hear Steve's and Curly's anger in the whole situation.

"What the hell do you think? We are not going to bring him back into our life! He can't be a Curtis if he goes all the way with a man-"

"Then I can't be your best friend if you can't support that!" Steve yelled, and pushed Soda, making him fall backwards and hitting his back on the hardwood floor.

I felt like this was all a dream. I didn't want to believe that something like this was going to happen at all.

This wasn't how the novel was suppose to change. Not like this.

"Come here you son of a gun! I'm going to scrap you so hard!" and soon both of what were supposedly best friends were now fighting on the floor, blood spilling on the beige coloured floor that was once apart of the safe atmosphere the greasers use to call home.

Darry and Two-Bit yanked the two former best friends apart, while Steve was still punching the living day lights out of Soda, each punch equals to a sickening crack that made me sick to my stomach.

"Let him go Steve! Stop it! Stop it!" I kept on yelling at them. Steve pretended not to hear me as he kept on punching Soda although he was being pulled away by Two-Bit.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I felt like I couldn't take this anymore. The fighting, the screaming, the fact that a group of brothers were about to break up all because of me.

I instantly felt dizzy and try to stay on put. "Stop fighting, please!" my eyes were already starting to form tears and I had no idea what to do. The tense atmosphere made me feel like I was choking, like I couldn't save anyone from all of this.

They finally broke apart. Half of Sodapop's face was filled with blood and cuts. Steve's nose was bleeding but he look like he didn't care.

They broke their friendship.

I broke their friendship.

"Get the hell out of my house," Sodapop mumbled, his eyes were casted down forward as he said so. Steve smiled grimly, his eyes were already filled with salty tears and soon they started to pour down his face, blood was running down his face as well.

He wiped away a bit off blood off his nose. "I'm sorry,"

Steve left the house, slamming the door as he did so. It was so loud, that the rusty hinges on the door fell.

"This is going to be the fourth time they fix it, and I don't have even enough money," Darry mumbled. He sighed and helped Soda stand up, they both staggered into the kitchen to get his eyes fixed.

Curly was silent the whole time. His eyes were still locked on the door that Steve broken.

"I'm sorry you got to see that, Teddy Bear," Two-Bit mumbled. His grey stormy eyes were hardened and I believed that they were going to stay like that from that day forward.

He went inside the kitchen giving me a smile that even him and I both know that it was fake. I then heard sniffles coming from him and I felt like I couldn't breath anymore.

Two-Bit finally broke, just not like this.

"...We got to find him," Curly mumbled. I just realized that he still hadn't let go of my hand yet and I didn't even mind.

"...Go outside, I'll be right back,"

Curly nodded, finally letting go of his hand. They were cold and clammy. He walked out, and I felt a strange and remorseful vibe coming from him. His back was hunched a bit and he was folding his arms so tight that they might break at any moment. It felt like he was looking at only one direction and I suddenly felt like throwing up, felt like I couldn't breathe, and I felt like I was stuck in chains.

I placed the $20 dollar bill on the counter beside the photo of what appeared to be Mr and Mrs. Curtis. I felt the familiar crinkle as I smoothed the green bill making it seem, that it was just lying there.

I had no idea why I was doing this. I can't scream at them or tell them to have common sense because they didn't live in my time period where it was okay to be a 'fag' and it was okay to be who you are.

It is okay to be poor because in a way, people will try to help and sympathize you.

I just wish they understand that.

Yet, as I lay my almost smoothed down $20 bill on the counter, I looked at the picture of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis.

She was wearing a small white gown and was smiling, and as she looked at the camera, looked at her, smiling as well, his head pressed against her side of the temple and his arm around her waist.

I didn't know what would have happened if they were alive, well and breathing. Maybe something like this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

Maybe not.

I take one last look at what was left of the gang, Sodapop groaning as he laid his head on Darry's shoulder, Darry trying to struggle not to cry and Two-Bit covering his face with his hands, his whole body started to shake as I heard a quiet sob from him.

I went outside, looking at them as I did so, with only two words on my mind:

"I'm sorry,"

In my mind, I felt like maybe this was going to be the last time I saw them.

I felt my stomach churn as I felt like this was going to be the last time I saw Two-Bit.

Curly and I walked around the neighbourhood yelling out Steve's name as we searched for him.

My imagination was already going wild, if we don't find him soon enough, he's going to lose lot's of blood because of a nose bleed and might possibly faint and die.

"Steve! Come on! Steve!" I yelled. My throat felt sore and I felt like instantly felt like crashing onto the driveway and sob my heart out. I just really want a car to crash me.

This is all my fault.

"You fucking greaser!" Curly yelled so loud, that I slightly jumped. He turned to look at me and I already missed the soft pale blue eyes. I still kept on looking at his eyes for a bit too long, he smirked a bit:

"Take a pic, it'll last longer,"

I sighed and sat on the driveway, then started to lay down and look up at the stars.

These stars, all pink, yellow, purple, white, all in different shapes and sizes are a lucky bunch. They don't have to deal with bigotry, traveling through time for someone you love, and fucking up their favourite book.

These stars only come up at night and look at all these people and the problems they are going through. These stars are probably laughing and having fun, blasting MCR, and kissing the living day lights out of another. These stars are probably holding onto each other tight because they all they have left.

I was really looking forward for a car to hit me so hard.

"Get up Colby, we got to find Steve,"

"A-Actually, y-you don't n-need t-to,"

I got up from the hard driveway and looked up to see Amelia, her beautiful brown eyes were red and she was only wearing a light blue lace trimmed night gown, with blue dress shoes. She's shivering and I instantly took off my leather jacket and put it to her, her once warm arms were already cold and she zipped it up. Her face is filled with tears and her hair looks unkempt, something I never even seen before.

She still looked beautiful but she was such a mess. I instantly gave her a hug and she started to sob, wetting my shirt.

"T-They kicked me out. M-my own family k-kicked me o-out," she whimpered.

Curly eyes widened and he looked at me. I looked at him and quickly looked back at Amelia.

"M-My own father kicked me out, because I was dating a G-Greaser," she was choking in between her sobs and I had to start rubbing her back. Slowly at first and then a bit faster as I heard the sobs less and less. As I done so, I felt the silky fabric of the gown and I realized that she was kicked out.

She has no one to support her and she's going to be wearing this night gown from here on in.

She's going to be a Greaser because of me.

I hugged a bit more tightly and soon Amelia calmed down. She looked at me in the eyes and I looked at her, using my thumbs to gently wipe away her tears.

She pressed her lips against mine very quickly. I didn't taste the familiar taste that made me go crazy, and I didn't smell the familiar smell that wanted more.

The taste was new, like it was a burden and the smell scared me for some reason.

Amelia changed, all because of me.

We broke apart and she mumbled.

"They're at the bus station,".


	16. Chapter 16

Curly hot-wired into a car that was right beside me the whole time, yet I didn't even notice. It was a bright red Ford, so sleek that it was still radiating like a God in the moonlight. It wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either and we sped away, to the GreyHound Bus Station.

It was a 10 minute drive to go to Downtown Tulsa. Had we not been in a situation at all, I would really love to take a glimpse or a tour of Downtown. It looks beautiful and much more unique than Oklahoma City.

We finally reached the bus station and I was still slightly confused on how Amelia knew where Steve, Johnny and Ponyboy were the whole time.

When we saw them, the bus hadn't arrived yet, which I was thankful for, we got out of the Ford and we ran up to them.

Steve's nose was now bandaged up properly and he was carrying three duffel bags. Ponyboy and Johnny were also carrying a small bundle.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. Johnny as well as Ponyboy, they were not holding hands but something tells me they will.

"Didn't you know-"

"I know that, but why...why leave?" I asked exasperated. It felt like such a stupid question to ask, we all, except Amelia, had somewhat of an idea as to why they were leaving.

"Dally's going to kill us if we stay here, we just got tickets to go to Toronto, Steve's mom is living there and it's the only place we got," Johnny said.

"Steve, you're lea-"

"It's for our good," Steve said. He smiled, trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere but we both knew that it wasn't going to help or break our problem now.

All five of us stood there in uncomfortable silence. Amelia decided to stay where the Ford is just in case someone else tries to hotwire it. As soon as she left the atmosphere still felt tense, like the same atmosphere I felt in the Curtis House.

Only this time, it didn't feel like I was choking and carrying a burden.

It felt much worse.

"So...So, you guys aren't coming back…" I choked out after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

The three of them nodded, and soon I felt tears starting to form.

"You're going to be the reason why I'm going to start crying if you don't make jokes or shit,"

Ponyboy smiled, but he was crying too. "Jokes and shit,"

Johnny laughed and gave me a hug. I hugged back.

His hugs felt warm and safe and I felt like crying into his shoulder and never let go.

But I had too.

Curly was crying too. More silently this time than before. He kept on furiously wiping away and struggling not to continue crying.

"I'm going to miss you, Teddy," Johnny laughed and hugged me tighter.

"Me too…"

Steve didn't say much at all and I instantly felt guilty for causing all of this.

Before I can say anything, the bus arrived and stopped right in front of us. Ponyboy got in quickly at first, giving his ticket to the bus driver, who was a very young man, clean shaven and instantly reminded me of Sal Mineo. As soon as the bus driver got his ticket, he looked at me and smiled, and went to his seat.

Johnny looked at me and I kept on shaking my head. "No! Stay here! Don't leave! Please!" I kept on thinking to myself. He gave me a smile, tears were already streaming down his face. He placed his hand on my shoulder before whispering "Thank you for everything,". He gave in his ticket and sat beside Ponyboy, who quickly let his head lay on his shoulder, holding his hand so tight and firmly.

They were free at last.

Steve smiled at me and gave me a hug quickly. He also gave Curly a hair ruffle before whispering "You know Colby, what you just did may seem like the end of the world to you but it isn't. You saved Johnny's life. You saved him,"

Before I can even continue he ruffled my hair. "Thank you, Colby, Thank you,".

He got in the bus, gave in his ticket and sat in the empty seat in front of them.

Another family (a Indian Family, one with a pair of twins) excused us and got in. The family finally sat in their seats and the bus took off.

Going into Downtown Toronto, with three of my best friends that will never come back here ever again.

Curly looked at me in disbelief and then smiled. His eyes were now soft pale blue eyes. His eyes wandered to the bus and back at me.

"I guess you can say, your job's done,"

I nodded, yet I felt my heart squeeze into tiny pieces as I saw the bus go away carrying best friends that I'll never see ever again.

"...We should probably go," I mumbled after staring at the path that the bus took. I wanted to run all the way and try to stop the bus even if my legs hurt, scream so it breaks apart and I just want Johnny, Steve, and Ponyboy to pop out of the corner and laugh, feeling good that they fooled me.

But the more I pretend, the more of a wimp I felt.

Wimps can't let go.


	17. Chapter 17

Curly hot-wired into a car that was right beside me the whole time, yet I didn't even notice. It was a bright red Ford, so sleek that it was still radiating like a God in the moonlight. It wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either and we sped away, to the GreyHound Bus Station.

It was a 10 minute drive to go to Downtown Tulsa. Had we not been in a situation at all, I would really love to take a glimpse or a tour of Downtown. It looks beautiful and much more unique than Oklahoma City.

We finally reached the bus station and I was still slightly confused on how Amelia knew where Steve, Johnny and Ponyboy were the whole time.

When we saw them, the bus hadn't arrived yet, which I was thankful for, we got out of the Ford and we ran up to them.

Steve's nose was now bandaged up properly and he was carrying three duffel bags. Ponyboy and Johnny were also carrying a small bundle.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. Johnny as well as Ponyboy, they were not holding hands but something tells me they will.

"Didn't you know-"

"I know that, but why...why leave?" I asked exasperated. It felt like such a stupid question to ask, we all, except Amelia, had somewhat of an idea as to why they were leaving.

"Dally's going to kill us if we stay here, we just got tickets to go to Toronto, Steve's mom is living there and it's the only place we got," Johnny said.

"Steve, you're lea-"

"It's for our good," Steve said. He smiled, trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere but we both knew that it wasn't going to help or break our problem now.

All five of us stood there in uncomfortable silence. Amelia decided to stay where the Ford is just in case someone else tries to hotwire it. As soon as she left the atmosphere still felt tense, like the same atmosphere I felt in the Curtis House.

Only this time, it didn't feel like I was choking and carrying a burden.

It felt much worse.

"So...So, you guys aren't coming back…" I choked out after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

The three of them nodded, and soon I felt tears starting to form.

"You're going to be the reason why I'm going to start crying if you don't make jokes or shit,"

Ponyboy smiled, but he was crying too. "Jokes and shit,"

Johnny laughed and gave me a hug. I hugged back.

His hugs felt warm and safe and I felt like crying into his shoulder and never let go.

But I had too.

Curly was crying too. More silently this time than before. He kept on furiously wiping away and struggling not to continue crying.

"I'm going to miss you, Teddy," Johnny laughed and hugged me tighter.

"Me too…"

Steve didn't say much at all and I instantly felt guilty for causing all of this.

Before I can say anything, the bus arrived and stopped right in front of us. Ponyboy got in quickly at first, giving his ticket to the bus driver, who was a very young man, clean shaven and instantly reminded me of Sal Mineo. As soon as the bus driver got his ticket, he looked at me and smiled, and went to his seat.

Johnny looked at me and I kept on shaking my head. "No! Stay here! Don't leave! Please!" I kept on thinking to myself. He gave me a smile, tears were already streaming down his face. He placed his hand on my shoulder before whispering "Thank you for everything,". He gave in his ticket and sat beside Ponyboy, who quickly let his head lay on his shoulder, holding his hand so tight and firmly.

They were free at last.

Steve smiled at me and gave me a hug quickly. He also gave Curly a hair ruffle before whispering "You know Colby, what you just did may seem like the end of the world to you but it isn't. You saved Johnny's life. You saved him,"

Before I can even continue he ruffled my hair. "Thank you, Colby, Thank you,".

He got in the bus, gave in his ticket and sat in the empty seat in front of them.

Another family (a Indian Family, one with a pair of twins) excused us and got in. The family finally sat in their seats and the bus took off.

Going into Downtown Toronto, with three of my best friends that will never come back here ever again.

Curly looked at me in disbelief and then smiled. His eyes were now soft pale blue eyes. His eyes wandered to the bus and back at me.

"I guess you can say, your job's done,"

I nodded, yet I felt my heart squeeze into tiny pieces as I saw the bus go away carrying best friends that I'll never see ever again.

"...We should probably go," I mumbled after staring at the path that the bus took. I wanted to run all the way and try to stop the bus even if my legs hurt, scream so it breaks apart and I just want Johnny, Steve, and Ponyboy to pop out of the corner and laugh, feeling good that they fooled me.

But the more I pretend, the more of a wimp I felt.

Wimps can't let go.


End file.
